Kari's New Friend
by Freddy Oakster
Summary: After Tai returns to the Digital World, Davis finds Kari standing by herself in the middle of the busy street looking pale as a ghost. His decision to help her get home flings him into an adventure he never thought possible.
1. Prologue: The one she trusted

**Author's Note:** _Hello and thanks for dropping by my latest project, Kari's New Friend. It has been a long time since I last posted anything on this site, and there are a multitude of reasons for that. I won't bore you with the details, but please cut me some slack if you think this is substandard. I might be a little rusty._ _Neverytheless, this is my attempt to get back into writing again, so hopefully the quality will increase with time. If you've never read anything by me before, then welcome and nice to meet ya!_

 _Now about the story itself. The Invasion of Odaiba is one of my favourite arcs in all of Digimon, period. This story will cover that arc, with a focus on Kari and Davis, going by the premise that they didn't know each other before the start of the invasion. Currently, I haven't planned for it to stretch past the Invasion, but I'm not ruling it out either._

 _Also, as a quick side note, I will be using the english names for the characters, as well as the official ages for the characters in the english translation. Since a majority of the original 8 main characters all have english names that are derived from their original names, like Kari being derived from Hikari and Izzy being derived from his surname, Izumi, most characters will still have their japanese names as their given names, with their english name as a nickname. The exception to this rule is Davis. I just don't see how "Daisuke" could possibly generate the nickname "Davis", so for him his english name will be his given name._

 _Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's get on with the story!_

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Digimon.

* * *

 _"When two people meet, something will be born."_

 **Prologue** : The one she trusted

 _"Bye Kari!"_

As her brother let go of her hand, Kari had to fight the urge to keep her hold. She didn't want him to go, didn't want him to disappear again. To see him let go of her hand and just float into the air, further and further away from her made her heart sink in her chest and she had to fight back the tears that threatened to spill from her soft brown eyes.

It had been hard enough to wake up this morning and know that he had already left for Summer Camp. When he had shown up at their doorstep a few hours later again, she had felt so happy that he had come back. While Tai could be annoying sometimes, Kari really did love her older brother above anything else and she knew that on some level, Tai returned those feelings. Whenever she was sick, he had always taken the time to make sure she felt as comfortable as she could in her bed and could stay with her for hours on end and whenever she was scared or sad, he would comfort her like only a big brother could.

She didn't know how long she stood there, just staring straight into the sky where her brother eventually disappeared from view, but it was until way after the Dimensional Rift had closed itself up. Eventually though, the stress from the battle between Agumon and Ogremon, and from losing her brother again, caught up with her and she began to feel ill again. Despite feeling better, she wasn't really in any condition to move around and shouldn't have left the house. Seeing Tai again had energized her for a time, but now that he was gone she could feel her illness returning.

Slowly, she began making her way back towards the apartment building where the Kamiya Residence was located, but barely had she taken a few steps before she began to feel dizzy. Her head was spinning and she felt the familiar heat of a fever begin to creep up on her again. She quickly stopped and steadied herself for a second, leaning against a nearby lamppost to not lose balance.

"Hikari?"

As someone nearby spoke her given name, Kari raised her head weakly and scanned the crowd for whoever had addressed her. Eventually, her eyes settled on a familiar mass of messy auburn hair that belonged to one of her classmates, Davis Motomiya. While most of the boys in her class were immature and cocky, especially towards girls, Davis was one of the few boys aside from Tai whom Kari could stand in general. They hadn't really talked a lot over the 3 years they had shared classes, but on the other hand he had never given her a reason to dislike him either. He had always kind of just been there.

Currently, the boy was approaching her with a worried look etched across his tanned face. Kari could imagine that she probably looked pretty frail and pathetic as she was leaning against the lamppost to keep steady, but she had hoped that no one would recognize her. She didn't like it when people saw her sick, it made her feel weak and vulnerable.

In an attempt to appear normal, Kari straightened herself up and stepped away from the pole she had been leaning against when Davis spotted her. This proved to be a mistake, as the moment her entire weight once against rested on her own two feet, her head began spinning again and her vision got blurry from the dizziness. As she lost her balance however, she felt small but steady hands grab her shoulders and carefully guidning her down into a sitting position.

"Hey, easy there. You're not looking very good." she heard Davis say, worry evident in his voice.

As her vision cleared again, she found the auburn haired boy kneeling in front of her, with his left hand still resting on her right shoulder to keep her steady. As soon as their eyes met, Kari looked away in embarassment.

"I'm fine!" she insisted, attempting to once again to stand up and support herself.

However, her legs just wouldn't support her weight and a second later, she found herself leaning against Davis for support again. It would appear that the battle from earlier, as well as the sprint to catch up with her much more athletic brother had tired her out more than she thought.

"Yeah, sure you are." Davis said, obviously not impressed in the slightest by her display. "Come on, we'd better get you home as quickly as possible. Where do you live?"

As he said this, he drapped Kari's arm over his shoulder to better be able to support her weight and slowly pulled her to her feet. Despite her desire to pretend like she was fine in front of her classmate, Kari begrudgingly accepted that she was in no condition to make her way home on her own, and with her parents out of town they wouldn't be able to help her either. Left with little choice in the matter, she told Davis which apartment complex she lived in, which thankfully wasn't that far away from where he lived so he knew how to get there without needing directions.

As the two of them left the scene, Kari chanced a glance over her shoulder towards where Agumon and Ogremon had battled it out earlier that afternoon. Her heart skipped a beat when she found that all the destruction the two digimon had caused was gone. The hole in the street that had been left after Ogremon's club and all the rubble that had fallen from the apartment buildings surrounding them... it had all vanished, as if it had never happened.

 **-:-:-:-**

The trek back towards the Kamiya Residence was a quiet one. Neither of the two children said a word to the other, but the tension between them was almost tangible. Kari still wasn't too happy about being found by one of the boys in her class in such a weak state, not to mention she still felt embarassed about the fact that she actually needed him to support her to even stand up straight. If this ever got out, she would never hear the end of it from the rest of their class.

Davis was trying to come up with something he could say to make Kari feel better, but had so far come up with a big blank. Judging by the way she had reacted to him earlier, she wasn't very happy with him for some reason but he couldn't for the life of him figure out what he had done to earn her ire. To be honest, he didn't think he had actually interacted with her at all during the 3 years they had shared classes. Kari was the kind of girl who preferred to stay quiet during class and actually listen to what the teacher had to say and during breaks, Davis always played Soccer, in which Kari never participated. With their minimal amount of interractions, it seemed almost impossible that Davis could've done anything to offend or upset her, so how come she was acting as if he had?

However, he was spared this confusion once they entered the apartment building where Kari's family lived, as he needed to check the list of family names to know where he was going. Kari could probably have steered him right, but she appeared to be half asleep by this point and just barely aware of her surroundings. Why she had been outside on her own in this condition was beyond him.

"There we go, Hikari. We're almost there." Davis spoke up as they reached the floor where the Kamiya Residence was located.

The girl in question mumbled something incoherrable, but Davis recognized that she felt relieved that she was almost home again. As they approached the door, Davis found to his relief that Kari had left it unlocked when she had left the apartment earlier.

"Hello? Is anybody home?" he asked as the door closed behind him.

When no one answered, he looked around the entrance hall and found that it was pretty much empty, leading him to the conclussion that no one else was home at the moment. Not bothering to take off their shoes, Davis proceeded to practically carry Kari around the apartment until he eventually found a bedroom where one of the corners was occupied by a bunkbed. Davis knew that Kari had an older brother but he doubted that said brother would mind if Davis misplaced his sister in the wrong bed, at least not when she was in this condition.

With one last grunt of effort, he managed to flip Kari into the lower part of the bunk bed. After removing her shoes and leaving them back in the entrance hall, he returned back to the bedroom to tuck Kari in properly. When he was done, he let out a sigh of relief and stood back. While Kari was far from heavy and Davis was pretty strong for a boy his age, he had been steadying her for quite some time now and the climb up the stairs of the apartment building had been particularly streinous. It was just his luck that her family would live on the second highest floor in the building.

As Kari appeared to have already fallen asleep, Davis turned around to leave and figured that he could come back tomorrow to check on how she was doing. He may not always look like it, but Davis was a very caring and kind person who wanted his friends to be happy. While he would be hard pressed to call Kari a friend since they had hardly talked to each other at all over the 3 years they had shared classes, she at the very least counted as an acquintance, and that in his eyes was enough for him to care about her well-being. Just as he was about to close the door behind him however, a soft groan from over by the bed made him stop dead in his tracks.

"Davis?"

Looking back over his shoulder, Davis found that Kari had rolled over so that she was facing the door and was eyeing him curiously. While she was undoubtly still worn out from the afternoon's ordeal, getting inside and laying down for a few moments appeared to have cooled her down somewhat.

"Why did you help me today?" she asked, a hint of hesistance in her voice. "It's not like we're friends, right?"

Turning back to face her again, Davis thought about why he had decided to help Kari that afternoon. Kari was right, they weren't friends in any way, but any decent human being who had seen the state she had been in would've wanted to help her. The mere fact that no one else in that street had thought to at least stop for a few moments and check up on her baffled him.

"Well, not really." he said. "But you looked like you could use a hand. That was a good enough reason for me to help out."

A few moments passed as Kari just stared at him with disbelieving eyes. This was a side she had never seen of her classmate before, and it didn't match with the image she had of him at all from the 3 years they had known each other. After a few seconds of tense silence though, she sighed contently and fell back against the soft pillows.

"Thank you." she whispered softly, as she closed her eyes.

Detecting none of the ire he had heard when she had tried to deny his help earlier that afternoon, Davis relaxed and grinned sheepishly towards her.

"You're welcome." he said, glad that she appeared to be feeling a bit better now that she was back home and laying down.

Silence engulfed the two 9 year olds, but unlike the one that had hung over them during their trek back towards the Kamiya Residence, this one was much more comfortable. However, thinking about that silence sparked a question in Davis, one he had been pondering since he had first run into Kari that afternoon in the street.

"Hey, Hikari?" he asked hesistantly. "Why were you even outside on your own to begin with?"

"Please, just call me Kari. That's what everyone else calls me." Kari said with a smile, though it soon faded as she came around to answering the actual question. It may have been an innocent question, but being reminded of why she had been outside made Kari's mood turn solemn.

The memory of her brother letting go of her hand and floating away into the sky returned and with it, the worry for his well-being. What was he doing right now? Had he found his friends once he made it to the other side? Being away from Taichi was hard enough on its own, but knowing that he was in the Digital World, a place which she knew to be potentially dangerous, made it all the harder to bear.

And what should she tell Davis? If she told him the truth, he'd just think that she was crazy. However, she had never been good at lying either, and she didn't want Davis to get upset if he noticed that she was hiding something. They may not know each other very good, but so far he had proven to be nothing but helpful toward her. Somehow, he had managed to make her feel like she was in safe hands, something that only Taichi and her parents had managed before him. She didn't want that to change.

"Davis... have you noticed something strange on the news reports recently?" she asked, trying to buy herself some time. "They said that people have been claiming to see strange creatures on the news, that aren't really there."

The question caught Davis off guard, but as soon as he processed what it was Kari had asked, he felt his heart skip a beat. He knew exactly what she was talking about. Over the last week, there had been reports about people seeing strange silhouettes in the background of the news reports. Just last night, Davis' older sister Jun had left the living room in a panic, claiming to have seen a giant red insect during the news report. He himself hadn't been watching the television as he had no interest in the news, but he knew that Jun had a great fear of bugs, so he had just played it off as her vivid imagination and so had their parents, who had been watching it along with her.

"Y-yeah, funny thing huh?" he said evasively.

Kari blinked in surprise, having picked up on Davis' evasive answer. She hadn't expected to get a serious answer from the question, it had just been the first thing that popped into her head while she was trying to stall for time to decide if she should tell Davis the truth about why she had been outside or attempt a lie.

"Wait, you've seen them too?" she gasped, her heart skipping a beat as a glimmer of hope was lit in her chest.

Davis scratched the back of his head awkwardly and suddenly found something outside the window to be very interesting. It wasn't really his place to tell anyone about what happened inside the Motomiya Residence, especially not when it concerned his sister. However, Kari didn't strike him as the kind of person who would go around and tell everyone about such personal things either, so what harm could it do? It wasn't like his sister was the only one who claimed to have seen something strange on the news.

"Not really. I don't watch television." he began, but eventually just decided that no harm could come of it. "However, my sister said that she saw a giant insect or something last night while she was watching the news with our parents. I was in my room reading a book so I didn't see anything, but my parents said afterwards that there had been nothing there."

This really threw Kari for a loop. For so long, she had thought that she was the only one who could see the Digimon on the news. When she had asked her parents if they could see the monsters on the television, they had just told her that she had been watching too many scary movies lately. But within a day, she had now come across 2 people who claimed to also have seen these creatures: her own brother Taichi who had been able to see them after returning briefly from the Digital World, and now Davis claimed that his sister could also see them.

"A-and, do you believe her?" she asked, feeling her energy return with the anticipation.

Even Davis was able to pick up on the subtle excitement in Kari's voice, and it confused him somewhat. Did she know something about these strange creatures? It wasn't that he thought Jun was lying or anything, she rarely did that. But giant red bugs the size of a small building? One could forgive him for question the existance of such a creature.

"Well, I don't know. I guess I got no reason to doubt that she actually saw what she claims to have seen, but I'm not sure if I want to believe that it was actually there." he tried to explain what he thought about it.

It took a moment for Kari's mind to process what Davis had said. That was a surprisngly insightful way of looking at the situation, yet another trait she had never associated with Davis before today. There was a lot more to him than what met the eye. However, that was the last thing on her mind at the moment. She hadn't forgotten Davis' original question, but this recent revealation made her really want to actually tell him the truth. If Davis was willing to believe that his sister saw a giant red bug on the evening news that nobody else had seen, then maybe he would be willing to believe her if she told him the truth?

"Davis... can you keep a secret?"

 **-:-:-:-**

It would be a few more hours before the door to the Kamiya Residence closed behind Davis. While him and Kari had been talking, her parents had gotten home from visiting Kari's grandmother on the outskirts of town. After they had come up with a good excuse as to what one of Kari's classmates was doing in their apartment, Davis had been invited to stay with the Kamiyas for dinner. However, not even the admitedly excellent cooking of Yuuko Kamiya had been able to stop Davis' thoughts from spinning like a windmill inside his head after what Kari had told him that afternoon.

A parallell world inhabited by strange creatures known as "Digimon", and these were the monsters that people had claimed to have seen on television screen during the recent news reports? Kari's older brother having gone to this strange world that same afternoon and that was why Kari had been left alone in the street like that?

Just as he passed under the balcony that belonged to the Kamiya Residence, he came to a stop and looked up towards the apartment where Kari was now getting some much needed rest. While the girl had seemed honest as she talked about what she knew about this whole Digimon-business, Davis wasn't sure if he was ready to believe it just yet. It just sounded too unreal to be true, like something out a science fiction movie or something.

Sighing, he was just about turn and walk away when he noticed something glint in the light from the lamppost. He squinted with his eyes and was able to make out a small metallic object that was falling towards him from one of the balconies, though he couldn't tell which one. With reflexes honed by hours of soccer practice, he snatched the object out of the air as soon as it was within reach, feeling the touch of cold metal in his palm as his hand closed around the object.

' _Huh? What's this?'_ he wondered as he looked down at the unfamiliar object.

In his hand rested what appeared to be some kind of portable digital device, with strange symbols surrounding the screen and 3 buttons. It was a bluish cyan in color and reminded Davis loosely of those digital pets that some of the kids at his school played with these days, where you had to feed and take care of the pet if you wanted it to survive. However, those were commonly made out of plastic while this thing appeared to be made out of some kind of strange metal, if the cold sensaion in his palm was anything to go by.

Davis frowned as he looked away from the device in his hand and looked back up towards the balconies. Had someone dropped this thing by accident? It had come from somewhere around the area where the Kamiyas balcony was located... maybe it belonged to them?

Letting out another sigh, he clipped the device to his belt and continued on his way home. He could ask Kari tomorrow if she recognized it from somewhere. Right now, he was too tired to turn around and go back up there. Besides, Kari was probably already asleep by now and he had promised to drop by tomorrow anyway to check if she felt better. With that thought in mind, Davis returned home, unaware of to what extent his actions today would impact his future.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** _And there you have it. I know this was a little short, but I felt like that was a good spot to end the prologue off. I really hope it wasn't too bad, but chances are that you found it at least acceptable if you made it this far. Regardless if you did or not, I would appreciate any feedback in the form of a review! It literally takes 5 minutes of your time, but it means so much to a writer to hear what their readers think of their work._

 _There is one thing I want to take the time to talk to you guys about however, something that tends to be at the forefront of many readers thoughts when they find a fic that focuses on these two particular characters. **No**! This story will not show any romance between Davis and Kari! W_ _hile I admit to being a Daikari supporter, this story will_ ** _only_** _portray them as friends. My main goal is to portray them in a new light (no pun intended) while still retaining their main characterists. I'm sorry if this disappoints you, but keep in mind that they are both 9 years old in this fic. If I decide to write a sequel when they are older, then I'm not ruling it out._

 _Thanks for taking the time out of your day to read the words of a fellow Digimon fan, and I hope you all have a really good day! Don't forget to **review**! ;)_


	2. Chapter 1: Accepting the Truth

**Author's Note:** _Hey guys! I'm back again, once again with another update for Kari's New Friend! First off though, I want to sincerely thank every one of you guys who favourited, followed and more than anything, those who took the time out of their day to **review**! I saw a lot of familiar faces amongst the reviews, and the support you guys showed made me feel really happy. Thank you, you guys are the best!_

 _Before we start the chapter, there is one thing I want to address and explain my reasoning for. I received a few remarks that Davis and Kari **didn't act like they were 9 years old** and yes, I can agree with that. But you can also argue that T.K and Kari didn't really act like 9 year olds in the show all the time either, especially not Kari. Also, keep in mind that Kari was feeling very sick and even a 9 year old can't remain cheerful and happy-go-lucky when they are feeling down, especially when she has the history with illnesses that Kari does. _

_Now, with that out of the way I hope that you will still be able to enjoy the story!_

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Digimon.

* * *

 _"People live their lives bound by what they accept as correct and true. That's how they define reality."_

 **Chapter I:** Accepting the Truth

The bed creaked loudly in protest as 9 year old Davis Motomiya rolled over, trying his best to go back to sleep again. Even though he had went straight to bed yesterday once he got home, he had barely been able to get any sleep at all. His thoughts had kept spinning in his head, as he tried to make heads or tails of what Kari had told him. It wasn't like him to be so unsure of what he thought about something and if he was to be honest, it was starting to get a little annoying, especially since the unfamiliar feeling had kept him from getting any decent amount of sleep.

Sighing, he sat up in bed and flexed his stiff shoulders, only slightly wincing when they creaked almost as loudly as his bed had just a few seconds prior. The sun had began to leak in through his curtains and he could already hear the rest of his family getting ready for the day. With Jun up and about, he knew that there was no chance he would be going back to sleep now.

Reluctantly, he got out of bed and began rummaging through the pile of used clothes in search of something to wear for the day. Eventually, he settled on a pair of dark green shorts and a simple blue shirt. Once he was dressed, he yawned loudly and rolled his shoulder once again, feeling the stiffness from being cramped up in bed slowly disappear, before he left his room, not even bothering to pull the curtains up.

"Morning, sleepyhead." his mom greeted him as he entered the kitchen. "How was dinner with the Kamiyas? You went to sleep before I got a chance to ask you about it."

When Mrs Kamiya had invited Davis to stay over dinner, he had made a point to borrow their telephone to call home and make sure that his parents wouldn't start wondering about where he was. As annoying as his parents could be, he didn't want them to worry about him needlessly. He remembered one time when he had went over to his friend Muiri's house to play video games without his parents knowledge and they had completely freaked out and turned the apartment inside out and upside down in search of their "lost" son. Once he had made it home, he had received the scolding of his life by his almost hysteric mother and ever since, he had always made sure to inform her if he would be home late.

"It was good. Mrs Kamiya is a really good cook, though I could probably do without the overdose of vegetables she gave me." he grunted out the last part in slight distaste while he began preparing a sandwich for breakfast. He had never been a big fan of anything green you put in your cooking, and while he would admit that Mrs Kamiya's cooking had made it bearable, that didn't mean he believed her dishes needed all that spinach in it.

"You better not have said that to Yuuko's face, young man!" his mother gave him a disapproving look with her arms crossed over her chest. "How many times do I have to tell you? If you really want to grow and up become the best soccer player in the world, like you claim..."

"... I have to eat my vegetables." Davis broke her off with a sigh as he slapped the two halves of his sandwich together and put it on a plate. "Yes, I know. You've only said it like a million times already."

His mom scowled at the tone her son was taking for a moment, but sighed in defeat and went back to cleaning out the kitchen. Seeing that he was let off the hook this time, Davis went on to fill a glass with some apple juice and then left the kitchen to finish his breakfast in front of the television, as to not disturb his mom in her cleaning. As usual however, he didn't really pay any attention to what was on, instead thinking about what he was going to do today. There were still a good few weeks before school started up again, so he had the entire day to do whatever he wished, as long as he didn't forget to drop by the Kamiyas later to check Kari was doing.

He would probably just decide to go down to the park to play some pick-up soccer. That's what he usually did whenever he had some time to spare, and he quite enjoyed it so he saw no reason not to. Maybe some exercise would do him good and help him clear his thoughts? They had been a jumbled mess that even he himself couldn't make any sense of since yesterday...

 _"Late yesterday_ _evening_ ," the voice of the news reporter penetrated his thoughts. _"Tokyo was shaken by the appearence of yet annother unidentified giant creature, this time devastating a popular night club in a secluded part of the Odaiba Harbor. The creature was sighted while flying away from the scene, and sources states that it resembled a giant insect of some sort. Like the other monsters that also appeared in different parts of Tokyo yesterday, it is speculated that this one may have a connection to the two monsters that appeared by Highton View Terrace 4 years ago. "_

As footage incidents mentioned was shown on the screen, Davis choked on the last piece of his sandwich and spit it out in his shock. The first footage was a short, low quality recording of what appeared to be a large burning bird fighting with an even larger hairy elephant. The second recording overlooked a bay, in which 2 white creatures, one hairy and one scaly, were fighting each other fiercely and the last footage showed a distant, somewhat insectoid silhouette flying away from a destroyed building in the Odaiba Harbor.

The plate that Davis had put his sandwich on was shattered as it hit the floor, falling out of the boy's lap when he hastily stood up from his seat. He felt his blood run cold as he listened to the news reporter talking about how these strange creatures had began appearing out of thin air since yesterday, but what really made him feel cold was what Kari had said about the so called "Digimon", when she had tried to explain the existance of a parallell world to him the previous day.

 _"Digimon live in a different world from ours usually, but occasionally they come here. I don't really know much about it, but when you found me earlier today my brother had just left to go to the Digital World along with our friend Koromon, who is a nice little Digimon we met 4 years ago when we still lived in Highton View Terrace."_

There it was again. Highton View Terrace. The reporter had mentioned Highton View Terrace as being the sight of a fight between 2 monsters 4 years ago, and Kari had said that she used to live there and first met her supposed "Digimon" friend Koromon there. It couldn't just be a coinincidence, right? Something strange was going on, and Kari knew something about it that the rest of the world didn't.

 **-:-:-:-**

Morning at the Kamiya Residence was a calm and quiet affair. Well, as calm and quiet as anything could be when Taichi Kamiya was in the vicinity. Kari's older brother had come home early from his summer camp after it got canceled due to poor weather conditions and had arrived at their doorstep late last night, shortly after Davis had left. While Kari had been overjoyed to see her brother again, it had quickly become evident that he was in no condition to spend any time with her at the moment, so she had resolved to talk to him in the morning instead.

Currently, the two siblings had retreated back to the safety of their shared bedroom, with Tai and Agumon lying on the floor rummaging through Tai's old stuff in search of his old phonebook, while Kari was watching the two from her bunkbed with a content smile playing at her lips. After having slept through the night knowing that her brother was safe and sound in the bed below her, she felt much better today. Her parents' were still wary of letting her go outside since she had told them that she had felt good enough to go outside yesterday as well, but as long as her brother was here she didn't mind staying inside.

"What do you need that phonebook for anyway, Tai?" she asked as her brother and his digimon partner was once again buried under a pile of old junk that had fallen onto them from one of the shelves they had been going through.

Sighing heavily as he dug himself out from the junkpile, Tai stood up and dusted himself off.

"Izzy believes that we may be able to find the 8th digidestined in one of our old phonebooks. Since all of us saw the fight between Greymon and Parrotmon at Highton View Terrace 4 years ago, he thinks that the 8th child must've also lived there at the time." he said, looking out over the mess he and Agumon had made while searching for the elusive little book. "But at this rate, I'll have to hope that Sora find hers instead. We were in the same class back then, so we would have the same book anyway."

"You sure was a messy kid, Tai." Agumon added as he mirrored his partner's actions and dusted himself off after crawling out of the pile of junk,

This earned them an amused giggle from the girl of the bed, who found their antics to be very entertaining. As she watched Tai attempting (and failing) to deny that he used to be and still was disorganized, Kari's thoughts turned to the conversation she had yesterday with the boy who had helped her get home after her illness got worse. Davis had mentioned that his sister had been able to see the monsters on television, just like her brother and herself. What if...?

"Hey Tai? There is something..." she began, but her brother didn't seem to hear her as he spotted the clock on the wall.

"Damn, look at the time! I'm late!" he exclaimed as he realized that he was supposed to have met up with the other Digidestined 5 minutes ago. "Sorry Kari, we can talk later. I got to get going! Agumon, you have to take the window since mom's home, I'll meet you outside!"

As if they had practiced the manouver a hundred times before, Agumon was out the window in 5 seconds flat while Tai threw the door to their room open and rushed to the entrance hall, only stopping briefly to tell their mom that he was going out for a while. Left behind was Kari, who blinked in incomprehension, not quite sure what had just happened. After a few seconds, she sighed and stood up from her seat at the edge of the bunkbed. She would have to wait until later when Tai came home again to tell him about Davis and his sister.

"Miko? Where are you?" she called, wondering where her pet kitty had run off to.

After searching through their apartment for Miko, which only took about 5 minutes since their apartment was pretty small, she figured that he had probably left yesterday when Davis went out and just not come back since. While she didn't blame him for wanting to be outside for a while and stretch his limbs in the nice weather, she was starting to feel a little lonely with Tai out and about and Miko nowhere to be found.

"Mom, I think I'm going out for a little while as well to look for Miko." she said as she passed the kitchen, deciding that she might as well go outside and enjoy the late summer climate while it lasted. After all, the weather had become quite unpredictable lately so who knew when the sun would show itself like this again?

Unfortunately for Kari, her mom had other plans.

"Stop right there, Kari! I thought we agreed that you would stay home today, just in case your fever starts acting up again?" she said as she rounded the corner that connected the entrance hall to the living room.

Reminded of the agreement that she had come to with her parents, Kari looked away guiltily. She had in fact agreed to stay inside today to avoid any further complications with her fever, but right now she was feeling fine and being home all alone with nothing fun on television was boring.

"But mom~." she whined. "I'm feeling fine! Please, I just want to go look for Miko."

As she said it, she tried to offer up her cutest and most convincing smile. It usually worked when trying to convince her dad that she was a big girl who should be allowed to stay up after 9 in the evening, or when convincing Tai to let her take the last cookie from the jar. Her mom however, was not impressed by this display as she put her hands on her hips and gave her daughter a stern look.

"Don't you look at me like that, young lady." she said with a steady voice that left no room for argument. "We agreed that you would stay inside today to make sure your fever wouldn't get worse again, so that's what you're going to do. Am I making myself clear?"

Knowing that there was no reasoning with her mom when she got like this, and not wanting to risk upsetting her any further by trying to push her luck, Kari relented and lowered her head with a disappointed sigh.

"Yes mom."

After a few seconds of tense silence, her mom sighed and leant down so she was on eye level with her daughter, putting a comforting hand on the young girl's shoulder to show that she wasn't angry with her. Kari was a very sensitive girl who didn't like to argue with anyone, least of all her parents and her brother. While she was starting to grow up and become a little more independant these days, she was still very much mommy's little girl.

"Listen sweety, you know I'm only doing this because I want what's the best for you." she whispered softly. "I don't want a repeat of what happened 3 years ago."

Kari shuddered at the memory and enbraced her mom in a hug, suddenly feeling very small and weak again. 3 years ago, Kari had been hit with a particularly nasty flu for a few days and had been forced to stay home from kindergarden. One day when her brother came home from school early, he had wanted to go to the park to play soccer, but at the same time he didn't want to leave Kari at home all alone. Reasoning that a little fresh air would help her recover faster, Tai had brought her along when he went outside.

It had backfired horribly and Kari's regular flu had grown into a severe case of pneumonia, almost killing her in the process. Kari herself didn't remember a lot about the illness itself, but she remembered how broken her normally cheerful and energic big brother had been when he realized what he had done, and how horrified her parents had been after the incident. If anything, she didn't want them to ever go through that again because of her.

"I'm sorry, mom." she whispered tearfully, feeling her throat constrict at the memory of what her family had gone through.

"Don't be sorry, Kari." her mother said as she stroked her daughter's hair. She hadn't meant to upset her, she just wanted to remind her of what the consequences could be if she wasn't careful about her health. "But you've got to take better care of yourself. You're a big girl now, and big girls need to be able to take care of themselves, right?"

Hearing her mom's encouraging words, Kari felt her mood lifting somewhat. As they let go of each other, her mom reached up to dry Kari's unshed tears with the sleeve of her shirt, before offering her daughter a soft smile, a gesture which was returned by the young girl herself.

"Thanks mom." she said, feeling a bit better knowing that she potentially spared her mother from a lot of worry by staying home just for today. "You're right, I'll try to be more careful from now on."

Satisfied with her daughter's response, Yuuko Kamiya stood up with an appreciative smile on her face, before turning around and going back into the house to complete whatever task she had been half-way through when Kari had announced that she wanted to go outside. Once she was out of earshot, Kari let out a sigh. She still felt like she was good enough to go outside today, but if it would put her mom at ease to have her stay inside one more day, then she wasn't as opposed to staying home.

Casting a longing glance at the door, she eventually decided to go see if maybe she could help her mother with any of the chores to pass her time. Taking of her left shoe, which she had already managed to tie on her foot before she had been stopped, she was just about to follow her mother back into the apartment when the sound of the doorbell ringing interrupted her.

Frowning, she turned around and went back to the door. They weren't expecting any visitors this early in the morning, at least not to her knowledge. For a split moment, she thought that maybe Tai had come back from his meeting already, but then she reminded herself that her brother would never ring the doorbell at his own apartment. Curious about who it could be, she opened the door and let out a slight gasp when she recognized their visitor.

Davis was standing opposite to the door, leaning casually against the railing with his hands in his pockets. But despite his relaxed outward appearence, he appeared to be nervous about something. As soon as he noticed that the door had opened, he pushed off the railings and walked over towards her. Realizing that she had frozen up in her surprise on seeing her new friend so unexpectedly, Kari shook her head to clear it up.

"Davis? You're early, we weren't expecting you until at least early afternoon." she said.

As the boy in question came to a stop in front of her, he grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his neck in a way that reminded Kari a lot about her brother when he was nervous about something, confirming her suspicions that Davis was indeed nervous.

"Err, yeah. Hope it's not any trouble." he said awkwardly, still not feeling completely comfortable around his newfound friend. Not only was she a girl, but she had also claimed the existance of a parallell world inhabited by digital creatures just the other day. Which, admitedly, was why he had decided to drop by early. "Hey, do you mind if I come inside for a while? There are a few questions I would like to ask you."

 **-:-:-:-**

While Kari was letting Davis into their apartment and Tai met up with the rest of the 7 currently identified Digidestined, a certain white feline digimon sat perched at the roof of a recreation center. While she could easily be mistaken for a regular if somewhat large cat, she was anything but, as was hinted by the green gloves she wore over her paws and the large metallic ring that was attached to the end of her abnormally long tail.

This creature was known as Gatomon, one of Myotismon's most trusted minions. Like the rest of her master's army, she had been dispatched to track down the 8th Digidestined, using a copy of the Crest of Light that was designed to react when it came in close proximity with the Digivice that was connected to the original Crest. However, so far neither she nor any of the other digimon she had recruited to her master's cause had receive a reaction.

Gatomon sighed as she checked her crest for what had to be the hundredth time. It still wouldn't even give off as much as a flash. Whoever the 8th child was, he obviously wasn't here and probably wouldn't come here anytime soon either.

 _'Searching for this brat is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.'_ she thought bitterly as she gave up on the recreation center and jumped off the roof to try and find another place where a lot of children gathered.

Earlier she had seen a huge amount of people heading towards the beach, which made sense considering the unusually hot weather. Maybe the 8th child would be there? It couldn't hurt to look, at least not any more than it would hurt to fail Myotismon in finding the child before the other Digidestined did.

With that thought in mind, Gatomon began to make her way towards her new destination, hoping against hope that she would receive a reaction from the Crest soon. If she didn't pick up a trail soon, her master would not be happy.

 **-:-:-:-**

Davis swallowed as Kari closed the door to the room she shared with her brother behind them. Mrs Kamiya had been pleasantly surprised that he had decided to drop by early and had immediately asked if he would be staying over lunch. While he had been tempted to decline in order to avoid another overdose of spinach, he would admit that he had quite enjoyed her cooking yesterday and if today's lunch would even be close to that, he would take it over his own mom's cooking 8 days a week.

As the two young children sat down on top of the bed covers in the lower part of the bunkbed, Davis frantically tried to organize his thoughts. If he was going to get some answers about this whole mess, he would need to at least know what he was going to ask. He felt like there was so much he wanted answers on, yet he couldn't seem to put together a single coherent question.

"So? What did you want to ask?" Kari's voice brought him out of his thoughts.

Looking over towards the girl who was sitting a little further up on the edge of the bed, Davis noticed that she appeared to be in a much better condition than she had been last night when he had left. Her skin wasn't as pale and her eyes held a lively, mischievous look in them that he couldn't say he had ever seen in them before (though admitedly he had only really known her well enough to care for about 14 hours at most). It was almost as if she had never been sick to begin with.

"You look a lot better today. How are you feeling?" the words were out of his mouth before he realized that he had spoken out loud.

Kari blinked in surprise, not having expected him to ask that out of all the questions he could've possibly asked. She had figured that since he had sought her out ahead of their agreed time, he wanted to talk about what she had told him yesterday about the Digimon and their world.

"Well, I feel fine. However, I promised my mom I would stay inside for today to not risk my fever rising again." she said, feeling her lips being drawn out into a sincere smile. She hadn't known him for long, but Davis actually seemed to care about how she felt. The thought that there was someone outside her family who cared about her well-being made her feel warm inside.

"That's good to hear." Davis returned the smile, before his face turned serious again. "But that wasn't the only reason I wanted to talk to you."

At this, Kari immediately re-focused on the task at hand. Yesterday, she had only told Davis what little she knew about the Digital World from what Koromon had told her, and her brief interraction with it 4 years ago. Davis had seemed sceptical about it when they had talked about it, but he hadn't downright dismissed her either. She just hoped that she would be able to answer whatever questions Davis might have about it.

"You want to know more about the Digiworld." she stated.

Davis just nodded thoughtfully, not really knowing what it was he wanted to ask. He wanted to know _more,_ but what exactly did he want to know? There was probably thousands of things that he could ask about the Digiworld, but what was it really he was after? Turning away from Kari to try and gather his thoughts, he focused on the information that had made him resolve to visit his new friend early.

"Highton View Terrace." he said, before turning back to face Kari again, only to be met by a look of confusion by his classmate. "Do you remember what happened there when you met Coremon for the first time?"

It took Kari a moment to register what it was Davis had asked, but once she realized that he had been trying to say Koromon's name, she couldn't help but sweatdrop.

"His name isn't Coremon, it's Kor-o-mon." she giggled, intentionally drawing out the syllables on the "o".

Humming thoughtfully, Kari leaned back and rested herself against the pillows of the bed as she tried to recall exactly what had happened 4 years ago, during the Highton View Terrace incident.

"Hmm, well I remember that I was woken up in the middle of the night by our computer starting itself up." she began, remembering how the light from the flashing computer screen had caught her attention. "When Tai and I went to check on it, Koromon's egg came out through the computer screen."

"Wait..." Davis interrupted, thinking that me must've heard something wrong. "Koromon's egg came out through the _computer screen?"_

Kari frowned slightly at being interrupted, but took a moment to think about it. It felt like it had been so long since it happened, the memory of it had become kind of fuzzy, even to her. She knew that she remembered it better than her brother did, but that didn't mean that she remembered every single detail.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's where it came from at least." she said as if it was the most natural thing in the entire world. "There were no other digital devices there that it could've come from."

Her reasoning caused Davis to sweatdrop. How did that make any kind of sense? Digital or not, eggs just didn't come flying out of computer screens. Even Davis knew that it was completely illogical for anything solid to pass through a computer screen. However, as Kari had already began explaining what had happened after the egg had appeared, he let it pass for now and instead re-focused on his friend's tale.

Kari went on to explain how she had fed the infant digimon some candies and how he had "digivolved" twice, first into Koromon and then later into a dinosaur-like creature that she had later learned was called Agumon. While Davis questioned both the logic of a creature gaining enough energy from a few candy bars to suddenly morph into a completely different being, and the fact that said creature for some reason suddenly was called by a completely different name, Kari just shrugged and said that it was natural by their standard. She told him that after Koromon had digivolved to Agumon, she had left the apartment and rode around the block on the back of the dinosaur-like digimon in the middle of the night...

"Eventually, Tai caught up with us just outside Highton View Terrace." Kari explained as she suddenly got a serious look in her eyes. "But he wasn't the only one. Another digimon, Parrotmon, also crossed over to the human world and he attacked me and Agumon..."

 _-:Flashback:-_

 _"Koromon, please don't fight!"_

 _5 year old Kari Kamiya was in tears as she begged her new friend not to fight. Ever since the giant green bird showed up, Koromon had been entirerly focused on it and Kari wasn't even sure if he still remembered that she was there. Before that, she and Koromon had been having a fun time riding around the city, but now it was as if the lovable little yellow dinosaur had she had gotten to know had been replaced with something else, something scary._

 _"Kari!" the young girl flinched as she felt her brother grab her shoulder from behind and attempt to drag her away. "Come on, Kari! We've got to get away from here! It's too dangerous!"_

 _But Kari didn't listen. She didn't want Koromon to fight, and she didn't want to leave him behind. However, Tai was stronger than her and was able to drag her a few feet away from the yellow dinosaur, before said monster resumed his assault._

 _" **Pepper Breath!** " he growled in a guttural voice as he spit a barrage of fireballs towards the giant green bird that had landed opposite to him, at the other end of the road._

 _Kari didn't know exactly what happened after that, but a few seconds later she covered her ears as the bridge above them was hit by a bolt of lightning, sent towards them by the green big bird. Looking up, she screamed in fear and began crying as she saw the bridge collapse over them before her brother pulled her close and laid himself flat on top of her in a vain attempt to protect her._

 _She didn't know how long they just laid there, but after what felt like an eternity the two siblings realized that they were both still alive, and sat up. A low grumbling alerted Kari to the presence of a third being. Feeling herself tremble in fright, she looked up to find a huge reptilian eye look back down at her. It's red iris was highlighted by the light that reflected in it from the burning remains of the bridge all around them, making it appear as if it was glowing in the dark._

 _"W-who is that?" Kari stuttered in fear of this unfamiliar face._

 _"Koromon?" Tai questioned with a stunned voice._

 _Kari felt her lower lip tremble as she studied the monster that was kneeling above them with its arms protectively around the two. Now that Tai mentioned it, it kind of did remind her of Koromon a little, but he was much larger and had blue stripes on his arms, legs and belly. The upper part of his head was covered by a large, brown faceplate that was adorned by 3 horns and his eyes were a glowing red instead of the green ones she remembered Koromon having._

 _"I am Greymon now!" he declared as he shook himself to get rid of the rubble on his back before rising in his full height._

 _Letting out a loud roar, Greymon charged towards the giant bird at the other end of the street, leaving Kari and Tai behind. The ground shook as the two colossal beasts clashed in the middle of the street and Kari had to hold on to her big brother to not lose her balance._

 _Once the two monsters were far enough away that the ground didn't shake beneath Tai's and Kari's feet anymore, Kari felt tears well up in her eyes as she watched her new friend open his mouth and release a large blast of searing hot flames towards his opponent._

 _" **Nova Blast!** " Greymon's guttural voice echoed around the area._

 _-:Flashback Ends:-_

"... and that's about all I remember from that night." Kari finished her tale. "When I woke up the following morning, Greymon and Parrotmon were both already gone, and all that was left was the destruction caused by their battle. I hadn't seen him again until... well, yesterday."

As she finished her tale, she took a deep breath and laid down on top of the bed covers. Davis, who had stayed surprisingly quiet after that first interruption, mirrored her actions and leaned back until he was stretched out opposite to her on the bed. Silence settled over the two, as Davis pondered what Kari had just told him. It all sounded so unreal to him and yet, he knew for a fact that _something_ had happened at Highton View Terrace 4 years ago, thanks to the news reporter. As much as his rational mind wanted to deny the existance of another world besides their own, he was beginning to think that maybe Kari was right after all.

Opposite to him, Kari bit her lip nervously. Davis had given no indication of what he felt or thought throughout her story, aside from that short interruption at the beginning. What was he thinking right now? Did he think that she was completely crazy? Less than 2 days ago, she wouldn't have cared if he did or not, but for some reason the thought of him walking out on her now was frightening.

Kari had never had any real friends before, at least none that she hung out with regularly outside of school. While she got along with most of the girls in her class, she didn't share any common interests with them, which ranged from unicorns and rainbows to sports and games. The best thing Kari knew was to spend time with her family, whatever activities that might entail. As such, she was regarded as kind of a weird kid, even by the other girls.

While this had never been an issue for her with the other girls, as she felt happy as long as she had her family, Davis was different from her other friends now. She had only really known him for 2 days, but in those 2 days he had made a deeper impression on her than any of her girl friends had done in over 3 years. It was hard for the 9 year old girl to pinpoint exactly why his friendship felt so different from the others, but whatever it was it made her not want to lose what little friendship they had developed.

"Well," Davis voice brought Kari out of her thoughts. "I have to tell you, this is a lot to take in, and I didn't even follow everything you just said."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Kari felt her heart sink in her chest. What did that mean? Did it mean that he didn't like her anymore? Now that she thought about it, she wasn't even sure if he had ever liked her to begin with. Yesterday, he had said that he just helped her because she looked like she needed it, not because she was his friend or anything. Had she just fooled herself when thinking that they could be friends? The thought made her throat constrict painfully.

"However, my gut tells me that I should trust you on this." he continued, sitting up again and facing Kari. "I still think this whole thing is crazy, but at the same time it strangely makes sense. It would explain all that's been happening lately, with the monsters showing up around town and all."

Instantly, Kari perked up.

"Does that mean that you believe me?" she asked hopefully.

For the first time since she had let him into the apartment, Davis met her gaze and offered her a smile. It was a slightly unnerved and stiff smile, but a smile nonetheless. Seeing him smile at her like that, Kari felt the cold fear about him not wanting to be her friend leave her chest. Before he even opened his mouth to reply, she knew what his answer would be, and it made her feel warm inside, in a way she didn't recognize.

"Yeah, I guess I do."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** _Well, I guess this is as good a spot to end it off at as any. I originally intended to write longer chapters, but trying to force an extra 4k words into this wouldn't benefit neither me nor the story. I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter!_

 _Before I go, I just want to make a quick note of Veemon. A lot of people were asking about him in the reviews, but sadly I can't answer the question right now. I got ideas for how the story could go both with or without Veemon featured in it, so I want to hold off on making that decision right now._

 _Now, if you really liked this chapter and haven't done it already, there is this nice little button that says "Follow/Favourite" somewhere on the screen right now that you can press to show your support. Also, I again want to thank all of you guys who reviewed the prologue. 21 reviews in 3 days for a new story is pretty good. Can we SMASH 50 reviews before I post Chapter 2? I would be more than happy if you could, so go ahead! **Leave a review** and tell me what you thought! _


	3. Chapter 2: Monsters in the Real World!

**Author's Note:** _Damn, I didn't expect to get 2 chapters up in 2 days, but my writing really started flowing as I was writing this chapter. I really hope that I didn't mess up the writing itself in my haste to get it all written down, but I've tried to proof-read it twice and have corrected all the errors I have found. If anything slipped past my notice, I apologize and will correct it if someone just points it out to me._

 _Now, as usual there is something that have been brought to my attention by reviews that I want to address before we start the chapter, and that is **Hikari's Age**. A reviewer pointed out to me that canonically, Hikari was 8 years old at the time of the invasion, not 9 like I have been portraying her. And while this would be correct in the original **Japanese Version** , I clearly stated in the AN before the Prologue that I would be using the **English Translation** as the template for the character's spoken names AND their ages. If you go to the Digimon Wikia and look at the profile of "Kari Kamiya", it states that her official age in the english release of Adventure was 9. _

_However, as I am very considerate about my readers and their opinions, I did some research and found that the age setup from the English Version is very confusing and conflicting between a lot of the characters, and doesn't even have an official age for a few of them._

 _My first thought to make up for this was to **only** use Hikari's official age in the English Version as a template (since she is in fact the main character of this story) and build the others' ages around hers, to **create the same age differences** that existed in the Japanese Version. This would put Tai, Matt and Sora at age 12, as Tai and Matt are both supposed to be 3 years older than their respective younger siblings. Izzy and Mimi, who were stated to be 1 year younger than the above mentioned trio, would be set to age 11, and Joe would be put at age 13, as he is supposed to be the oldest of the group. Naturally, Davis and TK will both be the same age as Kari (9), as they are in the same grade in Adventure 02._

 _The second option would be for me to go back and **edit my chapters** so far to fit with the **Japanese Ages** for the characters, which would put Hikari, Davis and Tk at age 8, Tai, Matt and Sora at age 11, Izzy and Mimi at age 10 and Joe at age 12. Basically, it would involve me sitting down with a large cup of coffee and read through all the chapters and just change any mention of age for any of the characters and then re-publish them. _

_Personally, I have nothing against either of these options. I believe that the first one would make most sense, considering some reviewers have also pointed out that Davis and Kari have both acted a little too mature for their age at some points, but if you **readers** really are picky about the characters' ages being the same as in the Japanese Version, then feel free to make your opinion known! **I will put up a poll in my profile** where you can **vote** if you would rather have the characters original japanese ages or if you're fine with me creating new ones based off of Kari's english age. _

_Sorry, that was a really long AN and I am sure a lot of you guys are getting impatient with me for it. I won't hold you here any longer, so go enjoy the new chapter! :)_

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Digimon in any way.

* * *

 _"The first step towards fixing something is to acknowledge that it needs fixing."_

 **Chapter II:** Monsters in the Real World!

Kari sighed as she felt a light afternoon breeze tickle her skin as she leaned forward against the balcony railings, staring out over the busy streets below her. She squinted her eyes to see if she could spot her brother when he came back, but she was too far away from the ground to be able to make out any characteristics for the people who walked by the building down below.

Shortly after Davis had decided that he believed that Kari may be right about the existance of Digimon, they had been interrupted by her mom calling them out for lunch. Naturally, they couldn't talk about Digimon in front of her mom, but Davis had appeared quite content not talking about the topic more than he had to. If Kari had to guess, he still felt a little uncertain about whether or not he really wanted to believe these creatures existed, but didn't want to question it in front of her. While she couldn't say that she blamed him for it, she couldn't really relate to it either, as she had been aware of Digimon's existance for as long as she could remember.

After they had finished their lunch, Davis had only stayed for another hour before saying that he wanted to go to the park and play soccer, much to Kari's disappointment. On some level, she had hoped that he would stick around for a while, at least until her brother or Miko came home. Even if they had done little more than talk since getting to know each other better, it still beat sitting around and doing nothing.

"Hey Kari! What're you doing out here?"

Hearing her brother's voice, Kari's eyes widened and she immediately spun around to find him standing in the doorway, watching her with Koromon in his arms. He looked a little roughed up, with his spiky long hair pointing in all possible and impossible directions and his clothes torn in some places. Despite this, he wore the same brotherly smile he always had on whenever he was looking at his precious little sister, and it never failed to make Kari feel a little better about herself. This time was no exception.

"Tai!" she called happily as she ran over to him and embraced him in a hug, squashing Koromon in between them. "When did you get back?"

"Just now." her brother grinned as she let go of him. "Sorry about leaving on such a short notice this morning, but I had important things to attend to."

Kari just shook her head at her big brother with a smile on her face. She wasn't angry with him, she could never be that. While she was a little miffed that he had just left her alone like that with little to no warning at all, she had gotten over it as soon as their mother had forbid her from leaving the apartment. If anything, her mom was the one she was angry at.

"Don't worry about it." she said as she took a step back and examined him again. "Tai? Did you get into a fight?"

As soon as his sister mentioned it, Taichi's expression turned serious.

"Not me as much as it was him." he said as he held up Koromon in front of him. "An evil digimon, one of Myotismon's minions, appeared downtown and attacked the Tokyo Tower. It took 3 of our Digimon to stop him from destroying everything in sight."

Seeing her brother's serious expression, Kari felt a cold sting in her chest. Taichi was usually a carefree, cheerful and happy-go-lucky individual who liked to take things easy. To see him with such a serious expression really helped Kari grasp the gravity of the situation he and his friends were in.

"This is getting out of control." Tai continued somberly. "These Digimon aren't like the ones we got used to fighting off back in the Digital World. Every single one of them so far have been Ultimate level, according to Izzy. We need to be able to go all out in order to beat them, but to go all out in the middle of our own home town..."

He left that statement hanging in the air, not wanting to scare Kari more than he already had. The girl in question however still had the aftermath of the battle between Greymon and Parrotmon fresh in her mind and had a pretty good idea of what would happen if Tai and his friends went all out against Ultimate level Digimon on a daily basis. It made a cold shudder run down Kari's spine just thinking about it. One thing was for sure; it wouldn't be pretty.

"And you still have no idea who the 8th Digidestined might be?" she asked hopefully, hoping to change the topic slightly. Her brother and his friends had been working at it the entire day. Surely they would've found something by now?

"Not at all." Tai said with a disappointed shake of his head. "We had Joe trying to call the numbers in our old phonebooks, but it's hard to find anything useful since we're not even certain what it is we're looking for. For all we know, the kid could be living in America by now."

Tai gritted his teeth in frustration. He had never been one to take adversities well, but now the entire human world was on the line! If only they had something, _anything_ that could point them in the right direction, he would still be out there searching for the kid.

But they didn't.

As much as he hated to admit it to himself, they were fumbling in the dark. All they really knew was what Gennai had told them before they returned from the Digital World, which was basically nothing. They were going off the assumption that the 8th child, whoever he may be, had also lived at Highton View Terrace at the same time as the rest of them, but that was merely an educated guess on Izzy's part.

Koromon, who had been quiet so far to give the two siblings some space, sighed and jumped out of his partner's arms and landed beside Kari so he could better look his friend in the eyes.

"Come on Tai, cheer up! We'll find that 8th child before Myotismon does, you just need to give it time!" he said to try and cheer his friend up. "We've always found a way to overcome the odds before, so why would this be any different?"

Kari, who had been trying to come up with something to say that would put her brother at ease, was quick to agree, even though she had no idea what obstacles Tai and his friends had faced while they were still in the Digital World.

"He's right, Tai. You'll find some way to fix this, right?" she said with a determined expression on her face.

For a moment, Tai looked between his sister and his partner Digimon with a torn expression as he felt the pressure in his chest intensify. Kari trusted him. Just like all of his fellow Digidestined trusted him as their leader, his sister trusted him as her older brother to find a solution to their problem, to find the 8th child before Myotismon did and to save their world from danger. Not for the first time since returning to the Real World, Tai felt himself question whether he really had what was needed to lead their group to victory in this upcoming battle.

He wanted to believe it. He wished so badly that he had the same faith in himself as everyone around him seemed to have, and silently cursed the fact that he didn't. It wasn't like him to falter under pressure, but this was so much bigger than anything he had ever been part of before. Nothing could've prepared him, or anyone else for that matter, for the burden of having the fate of two worlds dropped on his shoulders.

"Tai? You will fix this, right? Please tell me you will."

The sound of Kari's voice brought Tai out of his thoughts, and he looked down to find his little sister's worried face staring back up at him. The determination that had been present on her face just moments ago had faltered and been replaced by a look of uncertainty. Pushing his own worries to the back of his mind, Tai did his best to put on a confident smile in an attempt to relieve Kari of her worries. He didn't want to scare her more than he already had.

"Of course I will! I won't ever let anything happen to you Kari, or to this world. One way or another, I'll find that 8th child and then we'll kick Myotismon's digital butt all the way back to the ruins of his castle back in Digiworld!"

He had overplayed it. It was easy to tell by Kari's expression that she didn't quite believe him. Her light brown eyes, that was usually filled with admiration and playfulness when looking at her brother, had grown worried and lost some of their usual luster. However, she didn't say anything and instead turned away. For a moment, neither of the two siblings said a word, until the sound of the doorbell ringing caught their attention. Eager to get away from the gloomy atmosphere that her brother had brought with him, Kari jumped at the opportunity that was presented.

"I'll get it!" she called into the house, excusing herself before rushing past Tai back into the house, leaving him and Koromon alone on the balcony.

For a few seconds, Tai didn't move. He had really screwed that one up. When he had gotten home, his mom had told him that Kari had been feeling lonely while she was home all alone and had kept to herself out at the balcony after her friend Davis, who had dropped by over lunch, had left. He had hoped that he could cheer her up by talking to her and instead he had made her worry about things that she shouldn't even have to think about.

"Dammit!" he cursed loudly as he punched the concrete wall to his right in frustration. What was wrong with him? He used to be so sure of himself all the time, yet now that it really mattered he had began to doubt his own ability to succeed. Had the Digital World really changed him that much? And what was even worse, now Kari of all people had become aware of his insecurities. The one person who had always looked to him for support whenever she needed it... how could she expext him to support her if she believed that he was losing faith in himself?

"I think you scared her, Tai." Koromon said, trying to break the silence.

"Oh, really? What gave it away?!" Tai snarled at his partner, but immediately regretted it when he noticed Koromon flinch at the tone he was using. Taking a deep breat to try and calm himself, he reached down and picked Koromon up before he began to make his way towards his room. "I'm sorry, Koromon. It's just, this whole situation frustrates me!"

Koromon looked like he wanted to say something, but wisely kept his mouth shut. By now, he had known Tai long enough to know that it wouldn't help to talk to him while he was worked up. He had seen Matt attempt it a few times at the beginning of their journey and it had always escalated into a big argument between the two. It was better to let Tai cool off before trying to cheer him up.

 **-:-:-:-**

"Come on, pass the ball here!"

Davis panted heavily as he saw the ball being sent flying towards him and dashed off in the direction where he believed the ball was going to land. However, barely had he taken more than a few steps before someone from the opposing team stepped in his path and intercepted the ball. Making a swift turn, Davis set off after the player who had taken the ball in an attempt to get it back but he was aready too late.

As his opponent passed the ball to a player who had moved into position in front of the goal, Davis' team got to pay dearly for his laps in focus as the opposing striker got a perfect hit on the ball, which sailed past their goalkeeper and straight into the net. Falling to his knees in exhaustion, Davis cursed loudly at his own mistake. This wasn't the first time this afternoon that one of his mistakes had led to the opposing team scoring a goal, and it was starting to get on him nerves.

"Davis!"

Looking up, Davis found one of his classmates, Muiri, standing over him with his hands on his hips. They had been best friends since kindergarden and had been playing on the same soccer team for 4 years now.

"What's wrong with you today, bro? That's like the 50th time you've lost the ball for us! It's not like you!"

As he said it, he offered a hand to his friend on the ground, which Davis accepted and allowed Muiri to pull him to his feet again.

"Sorry man, I've been... distracted lately." Davis scratched the back of his head in embarassment.

It wasn't a complete lie. Ever since he had left the Kamiya Residence earlier that afternoon, he had been feeling guilty about something. The look on Kari's face when he had told her that he was going down to the park to play soccer was glued to the forefront of his mind. She'd practically looked like he had slapped her in the face.

"Really?" Muiri said with a laugh. "That's weird. It's usually the other way around, with thoughts of soccer distracting you from everything else."

Davis let out an awkward laugh, purposely not looking his friend in the eyes. If Muiri found out that he had been distracted because he was thinking about a girl of all things, the teasing would never stop, not to mention that he would probably spread it through the entire school. Then neither Davis nor Kari would be able to show their face in front of their friends ever again.

"Hey Davis!" another voice called from across the field, this one a girl's voice.

Looking over towards the side of the field where the shout had come from, Davis found his older sister Jun waving at him. Jun was 4 years older than him, and was never late to point it out to her brother whenever they disagreed on something. Like the rest of their family, she had spiky red hair, though her's was a few shades lighter than Davis' own. Currently, she had pulled her long hair back into a ponytail so it wouldn't fall into her eyes.

"Hurry up! Mom and dad sent me to come get you! We're going into town for dinner tonight!"

Davis didn't bother to answer her and instead just looked over to the rest of his team. Muiri, who still stood closest to him, just shrugged.

"Well, guess I'll cya later, man. We'll manage without you." he said.

Sighing, Davis just nodded his head and said good bye to the rest of his friends before jogging over to where his sister was standing. The older girl was leaning against the trunk of a large tree and was tapping her foot impatiently on the ground. She didn't like being kept waiting and Davis knew it. However, her impatience had reached a whole new level once she had entered her teenage years and had begun to regard herself as "grown up".

However, knowing that she would need to put up with her annoying little brother for at least a few hours while they were downtown, she didn't want to start an argument and wisely kept her mouth shut. Therefore, silence settled over the two siblings as they began walking back towards the Motomiya Residence, where they would meet up with their parents (and in Davis case, clean himself up) before going into town.

As they walked in silence, Davis' thoughts once again drifted towards Kari. He didn't understand why he felt so guilty about leaving her. It wasn't like he hadn't done similar things with his other friends in the past. That was just how things worked in his circle of friends; they did whatever they felt like doing. So why did this bother him so much?

"Hey Jun? Can I ask you a question?" he asked as they turned around the last corner before reaching their apartment building.

Jun, who hadn't really paid any attention to her brother since picking him up at the park, looked down at him with an odd look at her face. It wasn't often that Davis wanted to talk to her about anything, unless she had done something to annoy him.

"Is it about that mars bar that disappeared from the secret hideaway in your wardrobe last week?" she asked suspiciously. "I told you, I don't know anything about it!"

"That's not it!" Davis was quick to reassure her, not wanting to get into that old argument again. "I was wondering... would you feel offended if one of your friends left you to go do something else with a few of his other friends?"

He didn't want to admit that he was worried that he might've offended a girl in front of Jun. If Muiri would tease him for being friends with Kari, then Jun would be at least 10 times worse. However, she _was_ a girl just like Kari so perhaps she could help him understand if he had done something wrong? It had to be a girl thing, or else he wouldn't have such a hard time figuring it out.

Jun herself blinked in surprise at the question, her temper from earlier deflating in an instant. Had something happened to Davis? It wasn't like him to think about things like this. That was one of the many things that made him so annoying; that he was an insensitive little jerk who only thought of himself and always got on her nerves.

"Did you and Muiri have an argument or something?" she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

However, Davis was quick to shake his head at that.

"No, that's not it." he said, trying to come up with a better way of explaining himself without having to reveal that he was worried that he might have offended Kari in some way. Biting his lip, he felt his head spin as he desperately tried to find something to say, but sadly he only came up with a big blank.

As they entered the apartment building, Jun studied her brother with a frown. She had never seen him being so indecisive about what to say, he usually just let out whatever thought came to mind. Given, she hadn't spent a lot of time with him over the last year, but she liked to think that she had her baby brother pretty well figured out.

Humming quietly to herself as they began climbing the stairs towards their apartment, Jun tried to figure out what could've happened to Davis to make him consider his words so carefully. If it wasn't Muiri he had argued with, then who could it have been? Despite being friends with most boys in his class, Muiri was the only one he was close enough to that it would cause him to be worried about offending him in any way... wait, could that be it? Muiri might be the only _boy_ that Davis was close enough to be worried about, but what if...?

"Is this about that Kamiya girl you hung out with yesterday?" she asked, watching her brother for any kind of reaction.

When Davis hadn't shown up for dinner with his family, Jun had naturally been curious why he wasn't home yet. After asking her parents about it, her mom had told her that Davis was going to eat with the Kamiyas' that evening. While Jun had never been particularly close to either of the Kamiya siblings, she knew that their parents were acquinted with each other, since her mother and Yuuko were part of the same cooking club.

Seeing her brother's shoulders stiffen at the mention of the girl, Jun mentally gave herself a pat on the back for figuring it out so easily. ' _Score!'_ she thought with satisfaction, grinning as she watched Davis' cheeks attain just the slightest shade of pink.

"W-what makes you say that?" the boy managed to croak out, though he knew that he had been caught. He should've known better than to ask his sister for advice. Of course she would've known that he spent last afternoon at the Kamiya Residence! Their parents probably told her when he didn't make it home for dinner! Stupid, stupid STUPID him!

Jun grinned wickedly at her brother's embarrassment.

"Don't even try to hide it! You are _so_ busted, little bro." she said with a smirk. It was obvious that she was enjoying this situation a little too much for Davis' liking. "You made friends with the Kamiya girl yesterday and you have already managed to screw something up, haven't you?"

"I have not!" Davis immediately protested, but his voice faltered as Kari's disappointed face flashed before his eyes again. "At least, I don't think I have."

He added the last part quietly, not quite sure if he even believed himself on the matter. Obviously he had done _something_ to make Kari look at him that way, but he couldn't figure out what he had done wrong for the life of him. He hadn't treated her any different than he did any of his other friends.

As the two siblings came to a stop in front of the door that led to their apartment, Jun felt the glee at her brother's discomfort melt away as she glanced down at him. While his cheeks still hadn't quite returned to their usual tanned color, the horrified expression on his face had been replaced by a confused and almost scared look. Whatever had happened between him and the Kamiya girl, it had brought out a side in Davis that Jun couldn't remember ever seeing before. It was enough for her to at least wanna try to help him. Despite how annoying and obnoxious he usually was, he was still her little brother after all.

Sighing to herself, she put her hand on the doorknob to keep Davis from escaping into the safety of their apartment and leaned against the door. Davis, who had just reached out with his hand to open the door, frowned and looked up to find his sister looking back at him with a soft look in her eyes, the teasing and mischievous look from just a minute or so ago completely gone.

"Maybe it's best if you start at the beginning?" she asked as she let go of the doorknob and crossed her arms over her chest. "I can't help you if you don't tell me what you did to upset her."

"I didn't do anything! I'm not even sure if she's angry with me or not!" Davis protested, but soon faltered when Jun raised a sceptical eyebrow at him. Not wanting to look his sister in the eye, he looked down and suddenly found his dirty sneakers very interesting. "When I went home yesterday, Kari still wasn't feeling very well so I dropped by again today to see how she was doing. She seemed to be fine so I stuck around over lunch. However, I wanted to go to the park and play soccer with Muiri and the others, but her mom wouldn't let her come with me in case her fever acted up again..."

He trailed off, not quite sure what he was supposed to say. Truth was, he didn't know why he got the feeling that Kari was angry at him, she hadn't said anything. It had just... been something in her eyes he had seen when he left the Kamiya Residence. He couldn't really explain what it was. Thankfully, Jun appeared to have heard enough, because she sighed loudly and when Davis looked up at his sister, he found her shaking her head at him.

"So you just up and left her alone?" she asked as if it was obvious what he had done wrong. "Davis, you idiot! No wonder she's mad at you!"

Upon being called an idiot, Davis felt his face heat up again, though for a different reason than earlier.

"Who're you calling an idiot?!" he growled, angry at the insult. "What did I do?"

For a moment, Jun just looked at him as if he was the stupidest being on the planet, but eventually just sighed and shook her head again. She had to remind herself that Davis was still only a 9 year old kid, and on top of that he was a _boy_. It was just natural that he would be clueless when it came to matters like this.

"Try putting yourself in her situation." she tried to explain. "You've been sick for a few days, but are feeling like you have recovered again and want to go outisde and play with your friends again, but mom won't let you. Then, one of your friends is nice enough to drop by, but after a while he appears to get bored of you and tells you that he's going to the park to do something else with his other friends, leaving you behind. How would that make you feel, had the roles been reversed?"

For a brief moment, Davis frowned in confusion. He didn't know what the word "reversed" mean, but he assumed that his sister was asking how he would've felt if he had been in Kari's place. After thinking for a few seconds, he realized that he probably would have felt pretty abandoned. He had been down with the flu once or twice, and remembered that it was pretty boring being stuck at home with nothing to do. His visit had probably been the peak of Kari's day, and then he had just told her that he was going to leave her and go play soccer at the park.

"I would probably feel pretty lonely." he admitted. "But why didn't she say anything? If she had just told me that she wanted me to stay, then I would've done so!"

For the third time that afternoon, Jun shook her head at her brother's cluelessness.

"It doesn't work like that, Davis. Not everyone wear their emotions on their sleeves, like you and me. Some people don't like to talk about their feelings at all, or they just don't like to burden others with what they feel are _their_ problems. I don't know Hikari very well, so I can't really speak for her, but it sounds like she would've preferred for you to stay a little longer at least, but didn't want you to feel like you were obligated to do so because of her."

Silence settled over the two siblings, as Davis processed what his sister had just told him. As loath as he was to admit that his sister may be right about this, it did fit what had happened today and it also fit with what little he knew about Kari as a person. Trying to imagine what it must've felt like for her when he declared that he wanted to go to the park instead of staying with her, he felt the guilt from earlier return in full force. She had probably felt like he didn't think she was fun enough to hang around or something like that. That wasn't it at all! She may have been a bit weird, but he couldn't deny that he had enjoyed her company these last two days.

"So... what should I do now?" he asked, wanting to know if there was anything he could do to make this up to his friend.

"Well," Jun said as she pushed off from the door and turned around to open it. "For now, you should get a shower so you are ready to leave as soon as dad gets home. Then tomorrow, just try to talk to Hikari again and apologize to her."

And with that, she opened the door and disappeared inside, leaving Davis to his thoughts. For a moment, Davis just stood there and stared at the half-open door while he thought about everything that Jun had just said. Clenching his fist, he quietly promised himself that he would make this up to Kari, one way or another. As weird as she was, she deserved better than for her friends to walk out on her.

 **-:-:-:-**

Despite his best attempts to behave normally in front of his parents, Davis found himself continously distracted by thoughts of how he could apologize to Kari the following day. His parents however, either didn't notice or decided to just give him some space. He noticed that Jun was sending him glance every now and then while they were eating, but he did his best to just ignore her.

After his dad had come home from work, the Motomiyas had headed out to eat something a little nicer somewhere in the central part of Odaiba. Since Davis had decided where they would eat last time, which was about 2 weeks ago, it had been Jun's turn to pick out their restaurant this time and of course, she had to choose the most expensive one she could find. Davis didn't really mind, but if the looks their parents had shared while looking through the menues were anything to go by, they wouldn't be having another dinner like this for quite some time.

 _'What am I supposed to say?'_ he wondered for what had to be the billionth time. ' _Hey Kari! Sorry that I ditched you yesterday! Probably shouldn't have done that. I hope you're not too mad at me!'_

He shook his head in dismay, silently cursing his own inability to come up with something good to say. He had never needed to apologize to someone for something like this before. Whenever he and Muiri or any of his other friends argued, they usually just gave each other a punch in the shoulder the following day and said that they were even. However, something told him that punching her in the shoulder wouldn't be a very good way to patch things up with Kari.

He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't even notice the steadily increasing sound that was coming from his pocket.

 _Beep. Beep._

Perhaps he could buy her some sweets to make her feel better? He didn't have a lot of money since he usually spent it all on candy bars or sodas as soon as he got it, but he should have enough to at least buy her _something_ sweet at the local mart. Maybe that would cheer her up?

 _Beep! Beep!_

No, that probably wasn't a good idea. He shouldn't try to buy her forgiveness. Besides, he had no idea what kind of sweets Kari even liked, so he would be taking an unnescesary risk by trying to pick something out before he talked to her. Maybe he could offer to buy her something after he had talked to her and apologized, but it would feel wrong to buy her something beforehand and then try to talk to her. She would probably feel like she had to accept his apology then and he didn't want her to feel forced.

 _BEEP! BEEP!_

"Son, what is that strange noise coming from your pocket?" his father's voice brought him out of his thoughts.

' _My pocket?'_ Davis thought in confusion as he finally picked up on the beeping sound. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the strange device that he had come across last night when he was walking home from the Kamiyas. In his excitement to talk to Kari and find out what had happened at Highton View Terrace 4 years ago, he had completely forgotten to ask Kari if she recognized the strange device. Currently, it was lit up with its screen flashing in white and pink light, and it was vibrating violently, as if it was about to explode.

"What the...?" Davis didn't get to finish his sentence.

 _CRASH!_

Davis felt the floor shake as something large and heavy came flying through the wall just a few feet away from the table where he and his family was seated. The unexpected noise caused many of the restaurant's customers to let out high-pitched screams, including Davis' mom and sister. Davis himself was too stunned to even make a sound, or he would've most likely screamed as well.

On the floor a few feet away laid a strange creature that he had never seen before. It was humanoid in appearence, wearing a pair of ragged pants and what looked like two sets of belts around his left arm to keep a loose sleeve in place. But where a bare human chest should've been, ruffled blue and white fur covered its torso, all the way up to the creature's wolf-like head.

"WereGarurumon!" a boy's voice came from somewhere outside the building.

The creature let out a feral growl and pushed itself off the ground. More cries of terror echoed around them as more people took in the appearence of the creature. By this point, Davis and his family had gotten to their feet and moved away from the monster. Davis felt his entire body tremble in cold fear as the creature rose in its full height and let out a loud howl, before it bent its knees and jumped back out through the hole it had created when it had come crashing through the wall.

Even after the monster had left the building, customers stayed huddled together in every corner of the restaurant as far away from the space that had previously been occupied by the beast. However, as people slowly began to calm down enough to stand on their own two feet again and the sound level decreased a few notches, Davis was finally alerted to the sounds that his mysterious device was making.

Fumbling with it in his still shaking hands, he eventually managed to get a steady enough grip on it to see that the screen had stopped flashing and instead showed some kind of radar function, with a yellow dot in the middle of it. It also had another dot further out towards the edge of the radar screen, this one orange instead of yellow. If he had to guess, he would say that the yellow dot in the middle was where he was standing and the orange dot was... something else.

"W-w-what in the w-world was t-that, daddy?" he heard Jun cry from somewhere behind him, followed by his dad's voice as he tried to soothe his daughter.

Swallowing hard to try and ease the knot that had developed in his throat, Davis steeled his nerves and stood up, his legs surprisingly steady considering the shock he had just been in a few minutes earlier. As he made his way over towards the hole in the wall, he noticed that the orange dot was getting closer to the center of the radar, confirming his suspicion that the yellow dot in the middle was him.

"D-Davis! What're you doing?! Get back here at once!" he heard his mother call from somewhere behind him.

As he came to a stop just by the hole in the wall, he was met by a sight that would forever be imprinted in the back of his mind. The werewolf creature from earlier was standing on top of a building just opposite to where Davis himself was standing, flanked on one side by a white, muscular humanoid creature that had 3 pairs of white wings sticking out of his back, giving him a slightly angel-like appearence.

Both of the strange creatures appeared to be panting heavily, and were staring up towards the sky, where another human-like creature was floating unsupported in mid-air. The only distinct trait Davis could make out from this distance was the black cape that flowed around the mysterious being, but it was enough for Davis to get a sense of foreboding just by looking at the being.

' _This must be it!'_ Davis realized as fear tore at his chest, trying to make him turn around and run as far away from the creatures as possible. ' _These monsters, they must be the Digimon that Kari have been talking about.'_

As if to confirm his suspicions, the dark being that was floating in mid-air angled himself forward and dove towards the other two monsters, the sound of thunder crackling from somewhere underneath his black cloak.

" **Crimson Lightning!** " a deep, cold voice called that seemed to echo from all around Davis, as if there were at least 20 Digimon calling the same words at once.

Out of nowhere, a glowing red string appeared in the being's hand that it sent flying towards the other two digimon like a whip, both of whom managed to just barely dodge it. Instead, the attack hit the building they had been standing on previously, actually _slicing_ off a large chunk of the concrete that made up the building's walls. If there had been any doubt left in Davis' mind at this point, they were crushed on the spot, along with the car that had been parked just below where the Crimson Lightning had sliced off a chunk of the wall.

 _Digimon were real!_

* * *

 **Author's Note:** _Phew, that was a hard chapter to write! Not because I didn't know what I wanted to write, but because I felt about as insecure about how to write it as Davis felt towards the end of the chapter. Anyway, I hope that you all enjoyed it enough to leave me a **review**! :)_

 _Speaking of reviews, for those of you who don't check their profile regularly **I always reply** to each review I receive via **Private Message** , even if it is just to say "Thanks for reviewing the chapter". Also, if you put any question in a review I most likely answered it in a PM-reply. The only questions that I post along with a chapter in an Author's note are the ones that are brought up multiple times by different people. _

_Also, while we just happen to be talking about reviews, I may have set the goal too high when I said **50 reviews** for next chapter. xD I got so excited at seeing 21 reviews for the first chapter that I forgot that the 2nd chapter always end up with **less reviews** than the first one. No worries, let's just aim to get past 50 reviews with **this chapter**. You can do it, guys! Tell me what you thought about the chapter, what you liked and what you felt could've been done better!_


	4. Chapter 3: Kari's Tears

**Author's Note:** _Phew! Why was this chapter so hard to write? Every time I took a break and then came back a bit later, there were at least **10 things** I wanted to change from the way I had already written them._

 _Anyway, I know this chapter took a little while longer than previous chapters, but the answer to why is in the title of the chapter. While she may appear as just an innocent and adorable little sister when you first watched Adventure, **Kari's character** is surprisingly complex when you dig a little deeper and that's not even accounting for the influence that mysterious entity had over her while she was in the Digital World. **I've lost count** of how many times I've watched the **Myotismon Arc** over this last week just to get Kari's character to appear somewhat recognisable in this story!_

 _On to other matters, I'm going to **close the poll** soon since you guys appear to feel pretty content with me **keeping Davis and Kari at age 9**. So far 18 people have voted and 16 of those voted for one of the English options. **Thanks** to all of you guys who voted! Also, there have been a **specific guest reviewer** who have given me long and insightful reviews since chapter 1. Since I can't answer your review in a **PM** like I usually do, I'm going to post my answer to your review at the **bottom** of the chapter. _

_Now, with all that out of the way, I hope you enjoy the chapter!_

 **Disclaimer:** Nope. Still don't own Digimon.

* * *

 _"When we hit our lowest point, we are open to the greatest change."_

 **Chapter III:** Kari's Tears

As a late evening gust of wind swept in over Odaiba, the summer night instanly turned a few degrees colder. People in the streets shivered involuntarily, as chills ran down their pitiful little human spines and many of them drew their arms closer around their bodies and hugged themselves to try and keep out the cold. As cold blue eyes stared out over the crowded streets far below, the being they belonged to raised his arms towards the dark night sky and drew in a deep breath, gathering his powers in preparation for the advanced magical ritual he was about to perform.

High above the streets of the Odaiba districts, Myotismon waved his hands in swift motions as he released a great amount of his considerable power. The effect on the surrounding area was instant, as trails of impenetrable fog began to form at his fingertips and spread out around him. The Undead Digimon grunted as he felt the power drain from casting a spell of such magnitude and had to grit his vampiric teeth to keep himself from groaning. He couldn't show weakness in front of his minions. If they didn't believe that he was the strongest, then they might rebel against him when an opportunity presented itself.

"It's almost finished!" he stated, keeping his voice calm and steady. "As soon as the fog barrier have settled, our army will move to round up the humans and gather them in the Convention Center and the Sport's Stadium. Then, we will pick out and destroy the 8th Digidestined, once and for all!"

Gatomon, who was one of the digimon standing at attention behind her master and awaited his orders, shivered at the undertone of sadistic excitement that could be heard in Myotismon's voice. It reminded her of the days long before she swore her alliegance to him, the days when she still had the guts to go against the monster that had captured her. Whoever the 8th Digidestined may be, Gatomon knew that the poor child would be in for a world of pain once they found him.

She quickly shook her head. It wouldn't do to feel bad for her prey, it would only complicate things and possibly end up with another beating from her cruel master. If anything, she should be thankful that she no longer received those beatings as frequently as she used to. Yeah, that was it. She was thankful to her master, thankful that he had taken her under his wing and helped her become strong. She wouldn't be as strong as she was right now if it hadn't been for Myotismon.

"Lord Myotismon, if I may...?" a voice spoke up from the small group of digimon that had gathered atop the TV-Station.

Looking over towards the voice, Gatomon noticed that Wizardmon had taken a step forward. Wizardmon was one of the many Digimon that she herself had personally recruited to be part of her master's army shortly before they went to the Human World. She hadn't intended to ask him, but he had overheard her talk with another Digimon about joining the army and had offered his services. Something about the way he had looked at her back then had unnerved Gatomon greatly, but he hadn't stepped out of line since joining up with them so who was she to complain?

"What is it, Wizardmon? Can't you see that I'm busy?" Myotismon spoke as he turned around to face the group.

"Forgive me, my lord." Wizardmon was quick to say, bowing his head in the process. "I was simply curious as to why we're moving ahead of schedule? Wouldn't it make more sense to wait until at least one of us have received a reaction from the Crests so we can be certain that the 8th child really is in this vicinity?"

At this, Myotismon's face twisted into a predatorial grin, showing off his sharp vamipiric teeth.

"Oh, but that's just it." he said, his calm voice barely containing his excitement as he reached inside his cape and pulled out a golden tag containing a small pink badge with a strange symbol on it: his copy of the Crest of Light. "Earlier when I fought Angemon and WereGarurumon, _my_ crest gave a reaction, so the child is here somewhere. All we need to do is force him out of hiding!"

As the vampire's cruel laughter echoed over the rooftops, Gatomon felt the scars at the back of her paws start to ache. She swallowed and had to look away from her master, as unpleasant memories of other times she had heard that laugh was brought to the surface. As much as she hated herself for feeling any sympathy for the enemy, she couldn't help but feel bad for the 8th Digidestined. The poor child had no idea what was coming for him.

 **-:-:-:-**

Dinner at the Kamiya Household that evening was a tense affair. Kari had attempted to avoid her older brother as much as possible ever since their little chat after he got home earlier that afternoon, but she couldn't refuse it when her mother called them to the kitchen for dinner. Even though she wasn't hungry, she didn't want her parents to worry about her so she quietly sat in her chair and poked at her food, doing her best to not look at the spiky haired boy sitting to her left. At least he wasn't spreading his negativity while he was eating.

"Kari sweetheart, is everything okay?" her mother's voice brought Kari out of her thoughts.

Looking up, she found that both her parents were looking at her with worry in their eyes. Kari chanced a glance towards Tai and found that he too was looking at her, though he immediately looked away when their eyes met. Feeling as if her heart sunk even deeper in her chest upon seeing the dismissive gesture from her older brother, Kari looked back down at the plate in front of her.

"I'm just not feeling very hungry, that's all." she said, trying to act as if it was no big deal. If her parents found out that she was feeling down because something that Tai had done, then they would probably give him a scolding for upsetting his little sister and despite their little feud, she didn't want that. "Mom, is it okay if I put this in the fridge and finish it later?"

Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw her mom cross her arms over chest like she always did when she was about to protest about something, but was stopped from lecturing her daughter about eating habits when her dad put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head. Sighing to herself, Kari silently thanked her dad for stepping in, as she really didn't feel like being lectured right now. Without saying another word, she stood up and walked over to one of the drawers with her plate to encase it in plastic foil, before placing it in the fridge.

She was just about to leave the kitchen when suddenly, the handheld phone that was lying on the counter began ringing. Hesitating for only just a moment, Kari eventually reached out and grabbed it since she was standing just beside it anyway and brought it to her ear after pressing the green phone-button.

"Hello? Kamiya Residence." she said, mimicing the way her mother always answered the phone.

" _Hey, this is Matt. Is Tai there?"_ the sound of a boy's voice came through the phone.

Kari frowned at the rude tone this boy was talking with and for a moment, she forgot that she was actually mad at her brother. She couldn't recall Tai ever having a friend called Matt, but the name did still have a familiar ring to it... wasn't he the one that Tai said had taught him how to cook while they were in the Digital World? That meant that he had to be one of the other Digidestined.

Upon being reminded that Tai was indeed part of the Digidestined and what it had done to her normally so cheerful and supportive big brother, Kari's mood instantly turned sour. Suddenly feeling like she wanted to be alone, she spun around in place and held out the phone towards the dinnertable, where the rest of her family was still seated.

"Tai, it's one of your friends from camp." she said, her light brown eyes narrowing ever so slightly at her brother.

Frowning, Tai stood up and made his way over towards her to take the phone. As soon as she was rid of the device, Kari slipped past her brother and left the kitchen to go to her room, hoping that she would get some space there.

Tai stared after his sister for a moment with a growing feeling of unease building in his chest. Kari was usually a carefree and curious girl who loved to spend time with their family. Dinnertime was usually her favourite time of the day, since that was the one time their entire family was always together. This behavior wasn't normal for her, and it didn't help that he had a feeling that he was partly to blame for putting her in this mood.

Sighing, he tiredly shook his head and lifted the phone to his ear. He would have to deal with Kari later. Right now, he had to focus. If one of his friends had discovered something that was urgent enough to call him at this time, it was probably important.

"Yes? This is Taichi speaking."

 **-:-:-:-**

While Tai was talking to Matt over the phone, Kari had returned to her room and had immediately climbed the ladder on the bunkbed and hid under the blanket. This day had been one long emotional rollercoaster for her and it had left her with a wish to be able to just fall asleep and pretend that it had never happened. As the events of the day replayed in her mind, she pulled her legs up in front of her and rested her forehead against her knees.

Despite the argument she had with her mom that morning, the day had been pretty nice once Davis had showed up. Even though they didn't really do much, she had felt pretty content just sitting around and talking to him about trivial things. He was very nice and easy to talk to, especially for a boy, and she had found that she really enjoyed having him around.

That was probably why it had felt like such a slap in the face when he had said that he wanted to go down to the park for a while and play soccer with the other boys. Even after he had said that he believed her about the Digimon, which was another thing that had made him stand out from her other friends, he still hadn't wanted to really talk any more about it. Had he just said it to make her feel good? He probably thought that she was a weirdo and had just said that he believed her so she wouldn't get angry at him while he was here.

Thinking that her new friend may have just been pretending to be her friend these last two days, Kari felt her eyes sting with unshed tears and she let out a quiet whimper. As strange as it was, she had really gotten attached to him since she got to know him better and the thought that it may have just been an act on his part made her feel cold inside.

After Davis had left, Kari had spent the last few hours of daylight out on the balcony, trying to enjoy the warm summer weather while she waited for her brother to come home. Tai had always known exactly what to say to make her feel better, and he was a soccer kid just like Davis so she had hoped that maybe he could shed some light on why Davis had just up and left her like that. But instead, he had made it even worse, with his worries about Myotismon and the Digidestineds' lack of progress with finding the 8th child.

"Hey, Kari? Are you okay?" the familiar voice of her brother's partner Digimon sounded from somewhere in the lower part of the bunkbed. He still hadn't managed to digivolve back into his rookie form so he couldn't climb the ladder and get up here, something that Kari was grateful for. She really didn't want to talk to anyone right now.

"I'm _fine_! Just leave me alone, Koromon!" she cried, angry that she couldn't even get some time to herself in her own room.

"Really?" Koromon's innocent but worried voice came from below her again. "You don't sound like you're fine. Are you crying, Kari?"

Hearing the ridiculus question, Kari let a snarl that sounded suspiciously like Miko that one time when Tai had accidently stepped on the poor cat's tail. Refusing to answer, she turned away from the edge of the bed and faced the wall, as if that would make Koromon go away. She was _not_ crying! If Davis thought that she was weird, then that was _his_ problem, just like it had always been! It wasn't like they... were...

 _"It's not like we're friends, right?"_

As memories of their conversation from just last afternoon, Kari felt her throat constrict. Why did this upset her so much?! Up until yetsterday, Davis had just been another one of her classmates that she never even spoke to! He could've moved away from Japan and she would've been none the wiser. They had barely known each other for 2 days!

 _"You look a lot better today. How are you feeling?"_

Remembering how sincere he had sounded when he had said those words, how much it had meant to her to have someone outside of her family who cared about how she was feeling, Kari couldn't hold back the tears that had gathered in her eyes anymore. She hadn't realized it before because she had never had a friend like that, but she _wanted_ to have a friend like him, a friend with whom she felt safe. Someone with whom she could talk about anything without the fear of being laughed at or made fun of.

Feeling the tears roll down her cheeks and wet her yellow dress, Kari silently cursed Davis for making her feel this way. She couldn't even bring herself to hate him for making her cry. Whenever she thought of him, all she could see was his smiling face as he declared that he believed her, his smile as she told him that she was feeling better... his smile as she thanked him for helping her, even though he had absolutely no reason to.

"Kari, can I talk to you for a moment?"

Kari flinched slightly in surprise upon hearing her brother's voice from the edge of her bed. When had he come back to their room? She hadn't even heard the door open! However, as much as she would've liked to tell him to just go away and leave her alone, she knew that it wouldn't matter. If Tai really wanted to talk to her, he wouldn't listen to her even if she told him to give her some space. And indeed, just a few seconds later she heard the wooden ladder that led to the upper part of their shared bunkbed creak as Tai climbed up and sat down beside her in the bed.

For a moment, everything was quiet, save for Kari's shaky deep breaths. Kari stubbornly tried to ignore her brother and refused to give any indication to have noticed him. However, once it became clear that his sister had no intention to acknowledge him though, Tai reached out and pulled the blankets off of her. This only caused Kari to hug her legs closer to her chest and press her face harder against her kness.

Seeing the state that his sister was in, Tai felt his heart sink in his chest and he had to swallow to not let out a sigh. This was his fault. He shouldn't have forced his own problems onto her. She had nothing to do with it and there was nothing she could do to help him either. As mature as she could be, Kari was still just a 9 year old kid and he was her big brother. He was supposed to protect her from things like this, not the other way around! What had he been thinking when he had spilled all his worries in front of her that afternoon?

"Hey... listen, I'm sorry about earlier. I... I've been under a lot of pressure lately." he said meakly. What was he supposed to do? As much as he would've liked to, he couldn't really make her just forget that he was worried about their lack of progress in finding the 8th child. Nothing could make something that had already been said unsaid.

A few seconds past while neither of the two siblings moved. Then, much to Tai's surprise, Kari drew a deep, shaky breath and turned around to look up at him. Upon seeing his little sister's face, the leader of the Digidestined felt like he just wanted to sink through the ground and disappear. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying and her cheeks were damp with tearstains.

"I-it's okay, Tai." she hiccuped. "It's not your fault. I-I know you've done everything you can to help your friends. I'm not m-mad at you."

"No, it's not okay!" Tai said as he reached out and put a hand on Kari's shoulder. "If everything was okay, then you wouldn't have avoided me for the entire afternoon and I wouldn't have found you here crying just now!"

However, Kari just shook her head and turned away from him again, as if she was trying to hide her face from view. Tai felt alarm bells going off in his mind when he noticed her shoulders had began shaking again, as if she was trying to hold back more tears. Slowly, he reached out and pulled her into what he hoped was a comforting embrace and began stroking her soft brown hair with his hand. To his great relief, his sister didn't resist and instead grabbed the front of his shirt with her small hands and buried her face in his chest.

For what felt like an eternity, Tai sat there and murmured comforting words in his sister's ear, as Kari clung to him as if her life depended on it. After his slip in judgement that afternoon, he wouldn't allow anything to keep him from comforting his precious little sister. He didn't care that him and his friends potentially had the fate of the world resting at their shoulders. He didn't even care that Matt had claimed that his digivice had picked up an unidentified digivice signal that could very well turn out to be the lead they needed to locate the 8th Digidestined. Right then and there, all that mattered to him was Kari.

"Don't worry, Kari. Everything's going to be alright." he whispered softly in her ear. "Everyting's going to be alright."

 **-:-:-:-**

 _'Weird,'_ Davis thought as he studied the mysterious device from different angles. ' _It's not even making a sound now. So why did it light up like a christmas tree earlier?'_

As soon as the chaos had settled downtown where the Digimon had duked it out earlier that evening, the Motomiya family had escaped the scene in a haste, eager to get back to the safety of their own home. Jun was still in shock over the events they had witnessed and their parents had their hands full trying to comfort her, while Davis was left to his own devices, as he didn't appear to be as traumatized. They still checked on him once every 20 minutes just to make sure that he was okay, but otherwise calming down his sister was their priority.

So while the rest of his family was gathered in the kitchen, Davis had withdrawn to his room to take a closer look at the mysterious device. For some reason, it had activated itself while they were out eating but now it wouldn't make give a sound. He had tried pressing the 3 buttons in different orders and had even tried holding them all down at the same time, but the device remained as dead as it had all day.

 _'I've got to show this thing to Kari. If this is somehow connected to these "Digimon", then I'm sure she'll know what to do with it.'_ he thought, as he put it down on his desk and stood up to go get the portable phone and find his phonebook. Since Kari and he were in the same class, it would be easy to find her phone number there.

Just as he was about to grab the doorknob and leave his room when he realized something. Kari would probably _know_ how to help him with this, but would she _want_ to help him? In all the confusion and panic surrounding the Digimon attack, he had completely forgotten what had occupied his thoughts just moments before that werewolf Digimon had come flying through the wall.

He still hadn't apologized to Kari for leaving her alone that afternoon.

What if she was still mad at him and didn't want to help him because of it? And that was if she would even accept his call to begin with. It was entirerly possible that she wouldn't want to even talk with him at all. Perhaps he should wait until tomorrow, so he could go visit her in person and apologize before he started asking more questions about the Digital World?

Sighing, he went back to his bed and laid down on the covers. As much as he hated waiting, that was probably the best thing he could do. If he tried to apologize over the phone, she might take that as a sign that he didn't really want to talk to her face to face and that would only make the situation worse. The last thing he wanted right now was to give Kari another reason to be mad at him.

Just then, a soft knock on his door interrupted his thoughts. Frowning, Davis sat up to find his mom sticking her head in through the half-open door, looking troubled by something. She looked tired and the make-up she had worn while they were out eating was still smudged around her eyes, but still managed to give a somewhat reassuring smile as she waved her son over.

"Davis," she said as calmly as she could as she bent down so she was on eye level with him. "Do you think you could pack some of your clothes in a small bag, just enough for one night? Your dad and I are going to take Jun to the hospital."

Upon hearing that Jun was going to the hospital, all thoughts of anything else immediately left Davis' mind to be replaced with worry for his sister. As annoying as she was, she was still his sister, she was _family_! Feeling his voice tremble ever so slightly, Davis' croaked out:

"Why? What's wrong with her?"

"Well..." his mom said, pondering if she should really tell her 9 year old son why his sister was going to the hospital. However, since he also had been present when... _it_ happened, she figured that it was best to tell him. "She's been suffering from a mental shock ever since the _incident_ and no matter what we do, we can't seem to calm her down. We're worried that if we wait any longer, it'll get worse so we're going to seek professional help."

As he realized that the situation with Jun probably was a lot worse than he had thought, Davis looked down at his feet. He didn't know exactly what it meant to suffer from a "mental shock", but whatever it was it didn't sound pleasant. And while Jun had been going through that, he had been sitting in his room and pushed buttons on an unresponsive piece of junk.

"I... see." he murmured. "Okay, I'll get right on it."

His mom sighed with relief upon hearing his answer, if it was because he hadn't argued with having to leave home or becuase he hadn't asked any more questions about Jun's condition, Davis didn't know.

"Thanks." she said as she stood up again. "I'll just call Muiri's parents and explain the situation."

As Davis processed that little piece of information, something occured to him. An idea began forming in his head as he was reminded that he had actually wanted to talk to a specific friend of his, but not the one his mom had just said she wanted to leave him with over the night. But what if...?

"Wait!" he said urgently, before his mom could leave. "Do you... do you think you could drop me off at the Kamiya Residence instead?"

 **-:-:-:-**

"So let me get this straight." Tai said one more time, just to make sure he had understood exactly what his sister had said. "After I left for the Digital World, your fever came back and Davis, who just happened to stumble across you, helped you get home and took care of you until mom and dad came home and he left just before I got home yesterday. Then today, he came over to visit you again and you were having a good time until he suddenly just decided that he didn't want to hang out with you anymore and left?"

When Kari nodded her head, Tai sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache building up. So much had happened around his sister over the last two days and he had been comletely oblivious to it because he hadn't paid any attention to her since he got back from the Digital World. Ever since he got back, all he had been able to think about was finding the 8th Digidestined and now that he had actual taken the time to talk to Kari, it turned out that she might've held a vital clue all along.

"And you're saying that Davis claims that his sister, Jun Motomiya, have seen the Digimon on the news reports, just like you and I did when I was home 2 days ago?" he asked, just for clarification.

"Yeah." Kari said as she took another sip of the hot chocolate that her brother had went and gotten for her once she had begun to calm down from her breakdown earlier. "I'm not sure if she only saw the one Davis mentioned or if she saw more of them, but he said that she described it as a giant, flying red bug of some sort."

Tai sweatdropped.

"Yeah, that sounds like a Digimon I know." he said, thinking about the Kuwagamon he and the other Digidestined had run into shortly after first arriving in the Digital World. However, he quickly shook his head to banish everything Digimon-related from his mind. He could think about that later, right now he had other priorities. "But enough about that for now. Tell me more about your problem with Davis."

Upon being prompted by her brother to try and explain what exactly had happened between herself and her new friend, Kari felt the unpleasant sting in her chest from earlier return, though it wasn't as overwhelming as it had been less than an hour ago. To try and buy herself some time to think, she slowly raised the cup of chocolate to her lips and took another sip.

If she was to be honest, she wasn't sure what the problem was. It wasn't like he had insulted her or anything, all he had really done was leave her for a while to go play soccer instead. Now that she was feeling a little bit better after her brother had taken care of her like he used to, she felt kind of silly for reacting the way that she had.

"I... I don't really know how to explain it." she said softly, putting her cup down in front of her knees. "He didn't really do anything wrong. It's more of a feeling I got when he left."

But it wasn't really that either, because she hadn't thought much of it when it had happened, at least not to the point where it had caused her to break down. She had felt a bit left out and confused, but she had just figured that she could wait for Tai to come home and then he could help her understand better why Davis had done what he did. The real problem had presented itself when Tai hadn't been able to reassure her and she began thinking about Davis' actions on her own, making up her own thoughts of why he had left. It was the thought that he may have left because he didn't want to be her friend anymore that had disturbed her, more than anything else.

While Kari was trying to come up with something to better describe what had made her so upset earlier, Tai was going over what his sister had just told him to try and understand where she was coming from. Truth to be told, he couldn't really say that he thought Davis had done anything wrong, it sounded just like something that he himself would do.

He didn't know Davis Motomiya that well, but he had met the kid a few times in the park while playing soccer, and he was aware that he and Kari had been in the same class since first grade. Aside from that however, his impression of the boy was limited to what he was capable of on the soccer field, but that knowledge would do little to help him understand the situation his sister was in.

"Can you try to describe what you felt earlier, before I came in?" he asked thoughtfully, his undivided attention once again aimed at his little sister. "Like, were you feeling sad? Were you angry? Just, try to describe it with one word."

Kari blinked in surprise as she met her brother's intense gaze, but she lowered her head again as she processed what he had asked. If she was to describe what she had been feeling earlier, then what would she say? As she recalled what she had been feeling, what she had been _thinking_ just before Tai came back to their bedroom...

"I guess... more than anything, I was afraid." she said, before looking back up to meet her brother's contemplative gaze. "N-not like I was afraid of _him_ or anything, it's just..."

She swallowed as the images from earlier that afternoon came back to her, and she watched as her new friend just turned around and walked out her door like it was nothing, not even looking back at her once. It had been a pretty innocent gesture, but she had still felt a little hurt that he didn't want to hang out with her anymore, and that feeling had gotten worse the more she pondered it and came up with worse and worse reasons as to why Davis had left her alone.

"Tai? Do you... do you think I'm weird?"

"What?!" Tai cried out in shock over the strange question. "No! Of course not! Why would...?"

But as he took in Kari's expression, he suddenly came to a halt as a it finally dawned on him what had upset her. What he saw in his sister's light brown eyes wasn't something that he often saw in her, but he could easily recognize it. It was the same look that she had when their parents had brought her home from the hospital after the pneumonia incident 3 years ago, and she had been worried that Tai might not like her anymore because she couldn't kick the soccer ball like he had tried to teach her.

It was _fear_. More specifically, the fear of rejection.

Kari was afraid that Davis had left because she had done something wrong, afraid that he might not like her anymore and wouldn't want to be her friend, just like she had been afraid that Tai wouldn't like her anymore because she wasn't as good at soccer as him. A lump began to develop at the bottom of his throat as he felt his temper flaring. The pneumonia incident had always been a sore subject for him, and if someone hurt his sister in the same way that he had back then...

He shook his head and took a deep breath to calm himself. If Kari was worried about Davis not liking her, then it would only upset her more if he told her what he would do to the boy if he rejected his sister's friendship. Instead, he let out a deep sigh and tried to put on the best comforting smile he could muster, even if thoughts of how many bruises he could give the boy if he hurt Kari's feelings lingered at the back of hsi mind.

"Kari." he spoke softly to get her attention. "I'm sure Davis didn't mean it like that and if he did, then he doesn't deserve to be your friend."

To his horror, Kari's face instantly fell upon hearing his words.

"B-but I want him to be my friend!" she cried out, looking as if she was on the verge of crying again. "H-he's been nothing but nice to me so far and he even believed me when I told him about Digimon! I want to have a friend like him!"

For a moment, neither of the siblings moved an inch as Kari glared defiantly at her brother, as if it would be his fault if Davis didn't like her. Then, realization dawned on Kari that she had actually shouted those words out loud. Suddenly feeling embarrassed at her outburst, she instantly looked away from her brother as she felt her cheeks heat up.

"S-sorry." she murmured timidly. "I didn't mean to shout."

Tai just sat there dumbfonded for a moment, staring at his sister as if he had never seen her before. Kari had never raised her voice against him before, and he couldn't remember her ever being this adamant about something that she wanted. For as long as he could remember, Kari had always been the kind of person who felt happy as long as the people around her were happy. Whatever impression Davis had made on her, it had brought out a side in Kari that Tai had never seen before.

"Don't feel sorry, Kari." he said, shaking his head to get over the shock of hearing his sister raise her voice. "Wanting to have friends is nothing to be ashamed of, it's only natural."

That made Kari feel a little better about hrself, but she still felt embarrassed for her outburst. Silence settled between the two once again, neither of the Kamiya siblings knowing what to say. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Kari noted that the telephone went off again but she didn't pay it any mind. Instead, she reached out and grabbed her cup of chocolate again and emptied it of the last drop of her hot drink.

"So what am I supposed to do?" she asked as she fiddled nervously with the empty cup. This was why she had originally wanted her big brother's help. She wanted to talk to Davis, but she was scared of what his answer might be. This whole thing was unfamiliar to her and she feared that if she screwed it up, she might end up making it even worse.

Her brother appeared to think carefully about the matter for a few seconds, but eventually he seemed to make up his mind. He had just opened his mouth to answer when a soft knock on the door interrupted him. Frowning, both siblings looked up as the door opened and their mother stuck her head in, looking troubled about something.

"Excuse me, I'm sorry to interrupt." she said as she realized that her children had been in the middle of a conversation when she had knocked. "But that was mrs Motomiya who called just now. Something happened while they were in the city and her daughter might need medical attention so they're taking her to the hospital. However, they don't want to leave Davis alone, so he'll be spending the night here."

 **-:-:-:-**

As the fog finally settled around the Odaiba district and cut off all communication with the outside world, Gatomon gathered her half of Myotismon's Army (which admitedly mainly consisted of Bakemon) at the most western point of the fog barrier, from which she would be driving the humans towards the Convention Center, which was located in the central part of the city. As one of two generals, she was responsible for the western half of the city while Phantomon would be responsible for the eastern half.

Aside from the Bakemon, Gatomon's unit consisted of Wizardmon, Musyamon and DarkTyrannomon, all of whom were standing a few feet behind her. Myotismon had opted to put the real hard hitters in Phantomon's unit, since he would be covering a more populated area than her. As for the Undead Digimon himself, he was still recovering from casting the fog spell and wouldn't be participating, unless they were met with heavy resistance, something that Gatomon honestly doubted. Only the Digidestined could possibly hold a candle to their army, but there were only 7 of them, and at a few thousands of Bakemon.

"And so it begins." a soft voice spoke from somewhere to her left. "The moment we have all been waiting for."

Glancing towards the voice, Gatomon found that Wizardmon had taken a few steps forward and was standing just behind her, slightly to her left. The Demon Man Digimon had become awfully talkactive lately, especially while in her presence and it was starting to annoy her. However, she opted to just try to ignore him. Soon enough, they would have to split up anyway to perform their duty towards their master.

Ever since he had first approached her while she was trying to recruit Veedramon to her master's cause, she had been getting this strange feeling whenever Wizardmon was around. Something was tugging at the back of her mind every time she looked at him, it was almost as if she had met him somewhere before but for some reason couldn't remember when or where. It didn't help that he always gave her that strange knowing look, as if he knew exactly what was going on inside her head.

"I must admit, when I approached you in that tavern I would've never guessed that you were part of something like this." Wizardmon said, his eyes narrowing slightly as his gaze was glued to the back of Gatomon's head. "Was this really what you were searching for, Gatomon?"

Feeling as if someone had cracked a very cold egg on top of her head, Gatomon felt chills run down her spine as her mind processed Wizardmon's words and she stiffened involuntarily. There it was again! He was talking to her as if he knew her from somewhere, and a part of her responded to it, a part that she thought she had locked away a long time ago. A part that she didn't want to acknowledge.

"I'd watch my tongue if I were you, Wizardmon." she said, glancing at him from over her shoulder with a dangerous glint in her eyes. "You know nothing about me, and if you don't want to find out what happens when you anger me, I suggest you keep quiet from now on."

With that, she turned back to watch the city in front of her, waiting for the signal that they were to begin their assault. Behind her, Wizardmon kept staring at his old friend, before he shook his head and turned back to watch the city for the signal as well.

' _I know more about you than you think, Gatomon.'_ he thought, as a majority of the lights in the city finally went out, signaling that any communication with the outside world had been cut. Despite what he himself thought about this invasion, he gribbed his staff tightly with both his hands as he joined Gatomon and Musyamon on the front of the assault, with DarkTyrannomon just behind them. _The invasion had begun!_

* * *

 **Author's Note:** _Oh my! A lot happened in this chapter, I'm not even sure if I myself can keep track of it all. This was without a doubt the hardest chapter to write so far, but I hope it came out okay! Things are starting to heat up, so all of you who have been looking forward to some actual action, it will come in the next chapter._

 _I don't really have a lot to say here, other than thank you so much for all the support so far! I really hope you enjoyed this chapter. The characters are starting to change from how they were in canon now (not sure if I may have messed up Kari's character somewhat). Tell me what you thought about the chapter in a review! Can we SMASH 75 reviews with this chapter?! I'll leave that in your hands! :)_

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 _Now, to my dear **guest reviewer** : I wasn't complaining when I mentioned your opinion about the characters ages and their maturity, I was simply making a point that it wouldn't make sense to lower the characters' ages further when they are already acting a little above the average maturity of their current age. And I know the feeling, younger siblings can be a pain! xD _

_Yeah, I'm going to go back and change the mention of the tower when I go back and change some grammar and typos. I just didn't remember what it was called at the time when I was writing the chapter. Yeah, Parrotmon is an Ultimate, but Kari doesn't know that, but the aftermath of that battle is the only projection she has of what it would b like if there were Digimon fights daily in the streets._

 _Uh, yeah... think I was supposed to write "man" in that sentence, not mate. xD Dunno why I messed that up. And don't worry about telling me what you think in a review, it's those insightful and helpful reviews I like the most! I can't improve my writing and story-telling if no1 point's out what needs to improve. :)_


	5. Chapter 4: Apology Accepted

**Author's Note:** _Hey fellow Digimon fans, I'm back again once again with another chapter for Kari's New Friend. Took me long enough, eh? There are a few reasons for my delay, but the most prominent was that this was probably the **hardest chapter** to write so far. I struggled with it from the beginning to the end, but I think it turned out okay so I'll cross my fingers that you think the same. Oh, and I've been **sick** since last week. Kind of hard to be creative when you lay in bed in cold sweat and cough every 3 seconds._

 _Oh, and on a side note I have **gone back** and fixed a few typos in the first 3 chapters of this story while I was having trouble with this one. While I was at it, I took the liberty of adding a **philosophical statement** at the beginning of each chapter. For those of you who don't know, I am a very philosophical person and I just love those **qoutes** that you can tell have a deeper meaning than what's on the surface, and I can just sit and ponders those for **hours on end**. I picked 4 different qoutes from popular franchises and I am kind of curious to see if any of you guys can figure out where they come from? If you recognize any of them, please tell me in a **review**._

 _And of course to my **honorable guest** , the answer to your last review waits for you at the end of the chapter! Now, enjoy! :)_

 **Disclaimer:** Just the fact that there is a disclaimer here should be enough to tell you that I don't own Digimon.

* * *

 _"If an apology is followed by an excuse or a reason, it means that you have not learned from the mistake you made."_

 **Chapter IV:** Apology Accepted

As he stepped out of the car and closed the door behind him, Davis began to feel his nerves acting up. Looking up at the apartment building that he knew housed the Kamiya Residence, he couldn't help but wonder if maybe it would've been a better idea to just wait until tomorrow before confronting Kari and apologizing. When his mom had said that he would be spending the night at a friend's house while they took Jun to the hospital, he had thought that it was a great idea to try and knock out two birds with one stone, but now he began to question his own sanity for rushing to meet up with Kari again.

However, there was no turning back now as his family's car had already disappeared in the distance, so he steeled himself by taking a deep breath and entered the building. For every stair he climbed, he felt the pressure in his chest grown in intensity as his mind began to picture all the possible outcomes it could come up with. What if Kari didn't accept his apology? What if, as soon as he stepped inside the door at the Kamiya Residence, she walked right up to him and told him that she didn't ever want to see him again?

Coming to a stop outside the door that had the name surname "Kamiya" written on it, along with the given names Susumu, Yuuko, Taichi and Hikari, Davis shook his head and took a deep breath. No, he couldn't think like that. Kari wasn't the kind of person that would do that. It might be a little awkward at first, but eventually she would get over it. After all, even Jun usually forgave him when he had done something to upset her and Kari was a much nicer and sweeter girl in Davis' mind than Jun could ever be.

Swallowing nervously, he rang the doorbell and took a step back to wait for someone to open. While he waited, his eyes were inadvertedly drawn to Kari's name on the name sign. It felt strange that up until just 2 days ago, that name had meant nothing to him and now here he was, trembling more in nervousity than he usually did before a soccer game. Wait... _trembling_?!

' _Why am I feeling so nervous? It's just Kari.'_ he thought as he clenched his hand to keep it from shaking as it hung by his side. However, despite it being "just Kari", he still felt his heartbeat pick up as he heard the soft footsteps that approached the door on the other side, letting him know _exactly_ who would be the one to open the door.

And just as he thought, when the door swung open it revealed the young brown haired girl that had occupied his thoughts for the majority of the day (even if he would never admit it out loud). Unlike earlier that day when he had visited however, she displayed none of the surprised enthusiasm she had back then and instead just offered him a stiff "Hi", before stepping aside and motioning for him to enter.

Not wanting to have the impending coversation with Kari while standing on their doorstep, Davis was quick to comply. As the door clicked shut behind him, an awkward silence enveloped the two classmates while Davis reached down to untie his shoes. He could feel Kari's gaze on him, but he kept his gaze firmly focused on his sneakers, not wanting to look her in the eyes at the moment.

Kari couldn't quite describe what she felt while she was waiting for her friend to untie his shoes. A part of her was happy to see him again, even if she wished it had been under different circumstances, but another part of her wanted to just turn around and retreat to her room and leave him to his own devices. But regardless of what she really felt about him right now, she found that she couldn't tear her eyes away from him.

When her mom had told her and Tai that Davis was going to spend the night here, Kari had reacted with mixed feelings, still not sure how she was supposed to handle her situation or react to her new friend. Tai had told her to just try to act natural and see if Davis would come out and apologize on his own, but that was easier said than done.

"Oh, there you are. Welcome back, Davis!"

Both Kari and Davis almost jumped out of their skins in suprise upon hearing the voice, neither having noticed Kari's mom when she rounded the corner. As she looked up to find her mom smiling towards them, Kari was reminded that her parents still weren't aware that she and Davis hadn't parted on a positive note earlier that day. And if she was to be honest, she would prefer for it to stay that way.

"I was just about to show him to the guestroom." she said, trying to appear as natural as possible. "Where did Tai go, by the way?"

"He's just about to hop in the shower. I told him to do it before dinner, but as usual he didn't listen." her mom answered with sigh and a disappointed shake of her head, before she turned back to their guest and her face lit up again. "Anyway, make yourself at home, Davis. And I'm sorry to hear about Jun, but I'm sure she will be fine."

Davis just nodded in response, still not having found his voice since coming face to face with Kari again. He had just realized that he still hadn't come up with a good way to apologize and now that he was here, time was starting to run out. The mention that Kari's brother was also home this time did nothing to put him at ease. Since the two Kamiya siblings shared a room, they were bound to cross paths and something told Davis that the older boy wouldn't be too happy with him if he upset Kari any further.

Thankfully, Mrs Kamiya seemed to pick up on the fact that Davis wasn't in a very sociable mood at the moment and decided to leave them alone, figuring that he was still a little shaken after what had happened to his family while in town. Knowing that her daughter would take good care of her friend, Yuuko left the two children alone and returned to the living room, where she joined her husband in front of the television.

By this point, Davis had finally gotten rid of his shoes and stood up again. For a few seconds, the two classmates just stared at each other, neither knowing exactly what to say. Eventually, Kari began to feel uncomfortable standing in the entrance hall and swiftly turned around to show him the way to the guestroom.

"Uhm, this way." she said awkwardly, motioning with her hand for him to follow her.

Even though she was torn on what she felt about seeing Davis again so soon, one thing she knew for certain: she did not like to have this tension between them. As she showed him to the room where he was going to spend the night, Kari felt like she was guiding a stranger, rather than one of her friends. On the plus side, she could tell that Davis also felt awkward about their situation, so she held out hope that he had realized that he had done something wrong and that he would apologize once they were alone.

Davis for his part felt his grip on the strip to his backpack slip in his sweaty palm as he feverishly tried to come up with a good way to apologize to his friend. It was obvious from Kari's stiff behavior towards him that he had been correct in assuming that she was upset with him for leaving her earlier that day, but that did little to help him figure something out.

 _"Just try to talk to Hikari again and apologize to her."_ Jun's words from their conversation earlier came floating back to him. She had made it sound so simple when she had said it. Maybe he was just overthinking this?

 _Click!_

The sound of the door clicking shut behind them broke Davis out of his thoughts. They were in the computer room, which Kari had referred to as her dad's "office" when she had shown him around the apartment earlier that day. It was a simple room with a large window in the corner that was furthest away from the door and it held 2 long tables that intersected each other in that same corner, with a computer screen on one of the tables and several books and papers strewn in a mess across the other. One of the walls was covered a large bookshelf and a couch that was currently prepared with bedsheets and a pillow and blanket adorned the other wall.

For a moment, the two 9 year olds lingered by the door until eventually, Davis took a deep breath and went over to drop his backpack by the couch. Swallowing to try and ease the pressure on his windpipe, he then turned back to face Kari, who was still standing by the door and was watching him with an indecisive look in her eyes. As their eyes met briefly, Davis found that even if he had wanted to he wouldn't have been able to give his friend a practiced apology-speech. The only thing he could do was tell her was the truth; that he hadn't meant to hurt her and that he was sorry.

"H-hey, Kari?" he croaked out, feeling the pressure on his windpipe intensify. "Errhm... look, I'm sorry if maybe..."

However, he broke himself off and shook his head. That just sounded like an excuse! Why was it so hard to just tell her that he was sorry?! There should be no maybes and no buts! Taking a deep breath, Davis clenched his fists and resolved to just get it over with. It wouldn't matter how nicely he said it, because it wouldn't change the fact that he had screwed up and Kari had been hurt as a result.

"What I am trying to say is: I'm sorry about leaving you earlier today." he said, feeling the pressure on his windpipe ease a little after getting that off his chest. "I didn't really consider how it might make you feel when I just decided to leave like that and I'm sorry if I... no, _that_ I hurt you. I-if you would just give me another chance, I promise to try to become a better friend and not make mistakes like that."

There, he had said it. Suddenly feeling very tired, Davis sat down on the edge of his couch and looked away. A stinging cold began to spread through his chest as he awaited Kari's response, hoping that she would accept his apology. Despite only having known her for 2 days, Davis genuiely didn't want to lose Kari's friendship. He still thought that she was a bit... _different_ , but that wasn't a bad thing to him anymore.

Over by the door, Kari lowered her head so her bangs fell forward and covered the upper part of her face from view. She felt her lower lip tremble as Davis' words slowly began to sink in and eventually, her lips were drawn out into a smile, even as her eyes began to water again. Hearing his sincere apology and realizing that Davis truly wanted to be her friend filled Kari with a warmth and happiness that was unlike anything she had ever felt before, even in the presence of her big brother.

"When you just left me like that, I was really upset at first. A part of me just wanted things to go back to the way they were before and forget that these last two days ever happened." she spoke softly as she began to make her way over towards the couch where her friend was seated. "But after Tai talked to me about it, I realized that the reason I was so upset was _because_ I didn't want us to go back to being strangers."

As she came to a stop in front of her friend, Kari's smile faltered ever so slightly as she thought back to her conversation with Tai. Looking down at the auburn haired boy, who still hadn't raised his head again, Kari felt that strange possessive feeling from when Tai had suggested that Davis wasn't worthy to be her friend return.

 _"Don't feel sorry Kari. Wanting to have friends is nothing to be ashamed of. It's only natural."_

And she wanted Davis to be her friend, even if their friendship had taken a little dive after what happened earlier that afternoon. It was _because_ she wanted him as her friend that she had gotten upset to begin with and now that he had apologized of his own accord she knew that he also valued their friendship, just like she did.

"I'll forgive you." she said, clasping her hands behind her back. "As long as you promise me that we will always be friends."

As Kari's words hit home, Davis felt as if a huge weight had just been lifted from his shoulders and the strange knot he had felt in his chest slowly began to disappear. He wanted to stand up and shout out his relief to the world, but all he managed to do was let out a nervous hiccup as the pressure he had felt ever since leaving Kari that afternoon slowly left his system.

"I promise, I will be the best friend possible!"

A comfortable silence settled over the two friends following Davis' statement, similar to the one that had hung in the air two days ago when they had first began to view the other in a different light. Davis had a hard time believing that it had only been just yesterday that he had found Kari struggling with her illness in the street and helped her home. So much had happened in these last two days, he felt like at least a week must've passed since he got to know Kari better.

Kari was having similar thoughts, over where she was standing with her hands still clasped behind her back. Had it really only been just yesterday that she had told Davis about the Digital World? Somehow, it felt like he had always known about it, like he had always been that one special friend to her with whom she could share her experiences with the parallell world. Oh, and speaking of the Digiworld...

"Oh, that's right!" she exclaimed as she was reminded that Davis actually had never met a Digimon before. "Davis, come on! There is someone I'd like you to meet!"

With that, she reached down and grabbed her friend's hand and pulled him to his feet. Davis frowned but didn't question her as the two of them left the computer room and made their way to Kari's room, only stopping briefly to say "Hi" to Kari's dad, who was seated in front of the TV along with his wife. As they passed the bathroom, the sound of splashing water could be heard from the shower, along with...

' _Oh boy.'_ Davis thought, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. ' _I never thought I would hear Taichi of all people sing in the shower.'_

While he didn't know Taichi very well, they had crossed paths on the soccer field in the park more than once and even then, the older boy's reputation had proceeded him. Taichi was 3 years older than him, and he was both the team captain and the star striker of Odaiba's soccer team, even though he generally played with boys who were a year older than himself. All the boys in Davis' team, himself included, looked up to him and wanted to be like him one day. To hear his role model's voice crack as he was singing to himself in the shower was... unsettling.

"Uhm... does Taichi always do that?" he asked awkwardly, pointing with his free hand towards the closed bathroom door, from which a very hoarse singing voice emanated.

"Huh? Oh." Kari said as she slowed down to try and comprehend what Davis was asking. Since she was used to her brother and all his little quirks, she hadn't really thought anything of it but once she realized what was causing her friend's discomfort, she couldn't help but giggle. "Yup, every time."

Davis shuddered involuntarily, causing Kari's amused giggles to increase. He was just... never going to be able to look at Taichi the same way ever again. Suddenly feeling very eager to meet whoever Kari wanted him to meet, he was just about to suggest they moved on so he could try to erase Taichi's hoarse voice from his memory...

... when suddenly, the lights in the apartment went out.

 **-:-:-:-**

Taichi groaned as he tenderly reached up and ran his hand across the back of his head, wincing slightly when he felt the sore bump from when he had hit his head against the wall. The bathroom laid in complete darkness and he couldn't even see his own hand in front of his face. Since their bathroom didn't have any windows, it relied completely on the lamps to keep it lit so when they had gone out with the power, Tai had naturally been startled and _of course_ he had slipped on the wet floor.

Feeling his muscles ache from the fall, the leader of the Digidestined righted himself and slowly stood up again, careful not to make any hasty movements that could cause him to lose his balance again. As soon as he was standing straight again and had made sure that nothing was broken, he turned off the water and felt his way to where he had hung his towell before hopping into the shower.

"Tai? Are you alright in there?" his mother's worried voice came from the other side of the door. She had probably heard his cry when he lost his balance and fell.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Tai said as he dried his hair quickly and then drapped the towell around his waist so he could leave the complete darkness that was their bathroom. "I just fell when the power went out, but I'm okay. I've had worse."

As he said that last part, he thought back to his time in the Digital World with the other Digidestined and particularly their encounter with Shellmon on the beach on File Island. If he could survive being tossed around by a giant shellfish with a bad temper, he shouldn't complain about slipping on the floor in his bathroom.

He was just about to open the door when something caught his attention. His digivice, which was lying on the edge of the basin, had activated itself, lighting up the room in an ever so soft glow. Frowning, he reached out and grabbed it, immediately recognizing that it was the radar function that had been activated for some reason. He had used it quite frequently while he had been searching for his friends after they had split up in his absence. But why would it be triggered now? Back then, he had needed to activate it manually to use it, unless one of the others' digivices were nearby.

 _"And you're saying that Davis' claims that his sister, Jun Motomiya, have seen the Digimon on the news reports?"_ his conversation with his little sister about the topic came floating back to him. Slowly, the loose pieces began to drift together in Tai's mind, and his eyes widened as realization began to dawn on him.

When his mother had told him and Kari that Davis was going to spend the night here, his main focus had been to ease his sister's slight discomfort about the matter and help her come up with how she should treat her friend until he apologized. However... their mom had said that the reason Davis had to spend the night here was that his parents were going to take Jun to the hospital due to a mental shock from an encounter with the strange monsters had begun to appear around town. Coincidently, Matt had been in the middle of a fight against Myotismon when his digivice had picked up on an unidentified Digivice signal...

 _'No, it can't be...!"_ Tai thought as he felt all blood drain from his face. It couldn't be possible that by chance, the boy that Kari had begun to bond with recently just so happened to be the same boy that Tai and his friends had been looking for, could it? However, when he looked down on his Digivice again, he found that the reason it had activated itself was indeed that it had located another Digivice signal, an _unidentified_ Digivice signal, in the direction of his and Kari's shared bedroom.

Suddenly, all the numbness from his fall was forgotten as Taichi hurriedly tied his towell hard enough around his waist that it wouldn't get loose when he moved and left the bathroom. He didn't dare believe it, but it strangely made sense. When Kari had told him that Jun Motomiya had been able to see the Digimon on the new reports, he had initially believed that _she_ could've been the 8th digidestined, but it wasn't too far of a stretch for it to be Davis either.

As he made his way out into the hallway however, his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone knocking on their door. the sound made Taichi stop dead in his tracks and turn around to stare at the door, as the knocks grew louder. They weren't expecting any more visits this late in the evening. Something about this didn't seem right...

"Wonder who that could be at this time in the evening?" his mom said as she turned around the corner that led to the living room and moved to open the door.

Through the darkness that engulfed the hallway, Taichi saw the entire door shake from a particularly violent knock and his instincts kicked in and gave him a split second's warning. He grabbed his mom's shoulder as she passed him and pulled her back just as the door was knocked off its hinges and sent flying into the apartment, just barely missing the two Kamiyas by an inch. His mom screamed at the unexpected turn of events, attracting the attention of her husband who had remained seated in the living room but could now be heard moving to join his son and wife in the hallway.

In the doorway, three large ghost-like creatures floated in the air, their glowing red eyes leering at the mother and son standing a few feet inside the apartment. Their terrifying appearence did nothing to calm Tai's mom down, who began to tremble at the mere sight of the creatures that Tai recognized as Bakemon. The Ghost Digimon hovered in the doorway ominously for a few seconds before they entered the apartment and began to advance on Tai and his mom.

 _'You've got to be kidding me!'_ Tai thought angrily as he grabbed his mom's wrist and dragged her away from the doorway in a haste while holding on to the towell that was still tied around his waist as if his life depended on it. Out of all the times Myotismon could've made his move, of course it would be the one time of the day when Tai had absolutely no clothes on him.

" **Pepper Breath!** " a shout came from the direction of Tai's and Kari's bedroom, shortly followed by a fireball that flew just above their heads from that direction and judging by the groan coming from somewhere behind them, Tai noted with satisfaction that his partner had hit his mark.

"Agumon!" he called in relief as his partner stepped out from the shadows, along with his sister and her new friend, the boy that had occupied Tai's thoughts just seconds before the attack, Davis Motomiya. They both looked pretty shocked by this unexpected turn of events, but to their credit neither of them had screamed or run back into Tai's and Kari's bedroom yet.

Upon seeing yet another unfamiliar creature, Yuuko's eyes widened and she took a step back in horror. This proved to be a mistake as a second later, she felt a cold hand wrap around her wrist, the one that her son was not holding on to. With a hard jerk, she was tossed backwards right into the arms of one of the creatures. As she felt the cold flesh of the creature's blue arms wrap around her, she let out a horrified scream.

Tai felt his heart skip a beat as he felt his mom's wrist slide out of his otherwise safe grip. A horrible cold spread through his chest as he turned around and found both of his parents being held by the Bakemon. Both of them struggled helplessly against the blue clawed hands that was dragging them towards the doorway, but it barely managed to slow down the Ghost Digimon.

"Davis, let me go! Mommy! Daddy!" he heard Kari's scared voice call from behind him and turned around to find his sister struggling against her friend's embrace, trying to break free from his grip. The boy himself looked shaken by this sudden turn of events, but more than anything he looked determined to not let go of Kari, as the brown haired girl desperately tried to free herself.

"Like hell I will!" Davis cried as he struggled to keep his hold on Kari. "You won't help anyone by being captured, Kari! Get a grip!"

Seeing that his sister was in safe hands, at least for the moment, Tai turned back towards the Bakemon that had invaded their home, while he silently praised Davis for keeping his cool. His grip on his digivice tightened and he grit his teeth in frustration as he frantically tried to come up with a way to get them out the this situation.

Bakemon was a Champion level digimon and while Agumon could probably hold them off for a time, he didn't have the firepower to take them all out and free his parents from captivity. However, he couldn't digivolve his partner to increase his power either. Their apartment was way to small to fit Greymon and considering they were on the second highest level of the building, all it would do was cause them to fall to their deaths.

"Kari! Tai!" his mother's cry interrupted his thoughts as she was dragged around the corner and out of sight. A second later, more Bakemon came swarming into the apartment. Gripping his digivice tightly in his hand, Tai was forced to make one of the hardest decisions he had ever made in his entire life. Digivolving was out of the question as long as they were hunreds of feet above ground and without Greymon, they had no chance of taking out the Bakemon that stood between them and his parents.

They would have to abandon them for the time being and come back later. While there was an extremely small possibility that they could sneak past the Bakemon while Agumon distracted them, Tai was not willing to risk the safety of his sister and her friend that recklessly, especially not when he didn't know how many _other_ of Myotismon's goons could be waiting outside.

"Agumon!" he called as his partner walked up to stand beside him. "Can you hold them off for a few seconds? We're going to have to take the fire escape if we want to get out of here. We'll digivolve as soon as we reach the ground!"

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his partner nodding at him, a serious look on the otherwise carefree dinosaur's face. With a heavy heart, Tai turned around and rushed over to where Davis was holding the still struggling Kari, who seemed to be almost hysteric by this point after having witnessed her parents being dragged off by the terrifying Ghost Digimon.

"Let me go!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, tears streaming down her face as she struggled helplessly against her physically stronger classmate. "I hate you, Davis! Let go of me!"

Tai couldn't help but wince as he watched his sister wiggle one of her hands free and hit Davis atop his head. At last, Davis lost his grip on his classmate as his hands flew to the spot on his head where Kari had hit him. The girl in question didn't waste any time in rushing in the direction where she had last seen her parents, but she didn't get more than a few steps before Tai blocked her path.

"Kari, calm down!" he said firmly as he reached out and grabbed his sister by her shoulders, stopping her dead in her tracks. "Davis is right, you won't help anyone by being captured! We need to fall back and regroup with the others!"

Hearing himself speak so matter-of-factly about the issue, Tai inwardly cringed at how cold he probably sounded to his sister, considering he had basically just told her that they needed to leave their parents behind. But it was the only way, the only plan he could think of that didn't involve taking unnescesary risks. If it had been anyone but Kari he had to protect, he might've been more open to taking the risk of trying to charge past the Bakemon, but as it was he found that he just couldn't do it.

"But Tai, what about mommy?!" Kari cried with a shaky voice. Even through the darkness of the blackout, Tai could see his sister's wide, horrified eyes staring back at him, as if she didn't want to believe what he had just suggested. She probably didn't. Who wanted to hear their big brother tell them to leave their parents to their fates at the hands of digital ghosts?

"We'll come back and save them once we know more about what's going on." he tried to explain to her, doing his best to keep his voice void of any emotion. "But before we can do that, we need to meet up with the others and asses the situation. Right now, there are too many Bakemon and too few of us. Agumon isn't strong enough to take them all out on his own!"

The sound of Agumon doing his best to hold off the Bakemon filled the apartment, as the two siblings locked gazes. Tai looked long and hard into his sister's eyes, trying to project more confidence to her than he actually felt. As he looked into her eyes, he could see that the emotional stress from the last few days was beginning to catch up to the poor girl.

Kari stared back at her brother with a rebelious glint in her eyes, but the longer their gazes remained locked, the more she felt herself relent. There was something about the way her brother spoke to her, something about the way he held himself and how steadfast his gaze was even under the pressure of this horrifying situation, that made her unable to go against him. He had a commanding air about himself, as if he had become used to this sort of situation and having to make hard decisions on the fly like this.

And that was just how it was. That was the kind of person that his experiences in the Digital World had sharpened him into. That was what the responsibility of being the leader of the digidestined had done to him. She had seen a glimpse of it earlier that afternoon, but now it finally began to dawn on Kari just how much her brother had changed because of the dangers he had faced.

Biting her lower lip, Kari felt herself tremble and she instantly broke eye contact with her brother and hugged her arms tightly around herself, suddenly feeling very cold and helpless. Things just kept happening one after another, and she didn't know how much more of this she could take. Everything around her was spinning and she began to feel dizzy from all the conflicting emotions that ran through her. Why did everything just have to happen at the same time?

* * *

 **Author's Note:** _Yeah, everything is happening at the same time and yet, I feel like I failed to do this chapter justice. I **struggled** with basically everything in this chapter, from Davis arrival at the Kamiya Residence to his apology, and then again when the Bakemon came knocking. Eventually, I decided to just portray the majority of the later chapter from **Tai's point of view** , since at that point both Davis and Kari's thoughts would basically have been just a jumbled mess of fear and confusion, not much for a writer to capitalize on._

 _I feel like if this story had been an actual anime, this would be counted as something of a " **filler** " chapter. Not a whole lot happened, but it wasn't a complete waste of time either. Anyway, there have been a lot of talk about if **Davis is going to the Digital World** with the others after the Myotismon Crisis or not, and though I know I promised some of you guys over PM that I would put up a **poll** for it I have **decided against** doing that. One good thing that came out of my trouble with writing the chapter was that I had a lot of time to think about where I want to take this in the future and what impact it would have on the sequel, and I have made my decision based on that. I won't spoil it for you, but I have made up my mind!_

 _Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed the chapter, regardless of how short it was and the trouble I had writing it. If you did, I would appreciate if you would leave me a **review** to tell me what you thought about the chapter! On the subject of reviews, you guys managed to indeed **SMASH** the review goal I set at the end of last chapter! Thank you so much! It was really nice to sit down and read through all of your opinions! Now, I might regret this later but can we get past **100 reviews** with this chapter? I leave that in your hands!_

* * *

 _Now, to my **honorable guest** : I'm not sure if I agree that it was Yggdrasil that possessed her, because I haven't found any source material that states it or any Digimon material period that dates that far back that even mentions Yggdrasil, which makes me believe that it was something added later on in the franchise. The Digimon Wikia states that the being that possessed Kari is called "Homeostasis", but it doesn't explain much more about this entity than we learn in the show._

 _Yes, WereGarurumon is technically one of the "good guys", but you have to admit that he looks pretty intimidating. As for Kari, we don't know a lot about how her classmates view her, but when taking a look at her personality and the routines she seemed to follow in canon before Myotismon attacked, I'd say that she probably don't hang out a lot with her non-digidestined friends, and I decided to expand a little on why that was. We do know that she becomes quite popular with the boys later on in her teenage years from that scene when she delivers Taichi's lunch to him at his soccer practice in Adventure Tri (can't say that I blame the guys for trying to flex in front of her though)._

 _Anyway, thanks for your review as usual and I look forward to reading what you have to say about this chapter! :)_


	6. Chapter 5: Avoiding Capture

**Author's Note:** _Another **short** chapter, I'm afraid. And yet again, I get the feeling that this chapter is **substandard** for me, but I think I know why that is now. Looking at my older stories, I am used to writing characters while they are **contemplating** something or while they are having a **dilemma** , because it allows me to dig deeper into their thoughts. In situations where fast and **instinctive actions** are the dominant factor, like a combat situation, I am pretty much moving into **uncharted territory**. BUT! This just means that we have reached the part of this story where I can **learn** the most! So don't be shy, guys! Let me know what I can do to **improve**! Tell me what I did **wrong** and what I did **right**!_

 _On a side note, I am still having trouble recovering from my **flu** , and I am not sure if this affect my writing any. I may have been more prone to making **grammar mistakes** or misspellings without picking them up, so if you find a lot of those, I would appreciate it if you would point them out to me so I can fix them. That being said, go ahead and enjoy the 5th chapter of Kari's New Friend! :)_

 _P.S: My **honorable guest** will find my reply to his review at the bottom of the chapter again, of course! :)_

 **Disclaimer:** Yup. This thing is still here. Nothing more needs to be said.

* * *

 _"True friends are those who came into your life, saw the most negative part of you and still  
can't find it in themselves to leave you, no matter how contagious you are to them."_

 **Chapter V:** Avoiding Capture

Davis swallowed nervously as he followed after the two Kamiya siblings and began climbing down the ladder of the fire escape, doing his best not to look down and remind himself how far up they were. The wind had picked up and he could feel it tear at his hair and clothes, and the swaying of the ladder did nothing to help calm him down from the adrenaline rush he had experienced when the Ghost Digimon had attacked. Rather, it made him feel even tenser to feel how the metal scaffold was rocking back and forth while they were climbing down.

After Tai had somehow managed to calm Kari down enough to make her come along with them without argument, the three of them had made for the computer room, where the fire escape was located. On the way, Tai had made sure to grab his dad's shirt that was lying on the couch in the living room when they passed it, just so that he would have something to cover his torso, and once in the computer room he had immediately dove for Davis' bag in search of something that he could wear in place of the towell that was tied around his waist. While none of Davis' clothes really fit Tai, he somehow managed to squeeze himself down into a pair of boxers that Davis had brought along so he would have a change of underwear.

As the group carefully tried to make their way to solid ground, Davis could hear the screams of other unsuspecting humans over the rush of the wind, normal people who, like himself and the Kamiyas, had just been minding their own business when the Bakemon came knocking. Every time he heard another child cry out for their mother or a cry of pain from someone who tried to fight back and was beaten into submission, he felt a cold sting of horror run through his chest, and he had to keep a hard grip on the ladder to keep himself from trembling and risk losing his grip. As unlikely as it was, he sincerely hoped that his family had made it out of Odaiba before all this started.

So many thoughts and emotions were going through him at the moment, he couldn't make out what he felt. He didn't even feel scared anymore, just shocked and horrified at everything that had happened within the last 20 minutes, if it had even been that long. After Kari had introduced him to Taichi's partner, Agumon, the three of them had decided to wait until Taichi came back from his shower to find something to do for the last hour or so before going to bed. That however, had been cut short when they heard Mrs Kamiya's scream of terror as the Bakemon invaded their apartment.

Naturally, seeing her parents being dragged off by ghosts that looked like they might eat them alive, Kari had panicked and if Davis hadn't grabbed her when he did, she would've rushed over towards her parents in a heartbeat. It had been instinct more than anything else that had made him reach out and grab ahold of her, but he was glad that he had, even if she had hit him atop the head as a result. Even now, he could feel a bump forming where Kari had hit him...

"Alright, finally we're back on solid ground again." Tai declared as he jumped the last few feet down from the ladder and landed in a crouch, which resulted in an extremely awkward position since he was only wearing his dad's dirty white shirt and a pair of obviously too small boxers. If their situation wasn't so serious, Davis would've probably laughed at the sight but as it was, he just couldn't get himself to find anything funny about it. There was too much going on around them.

From what Davis could see, almost the entire Odaiba district had been laid in darkness from the blackout and only a select few buildings still appeared to have any form of electricity. While they were currently standing in an alley between the apartment building where the Kamiya Residence was located and the building next to it, Davis could hear that the main street that ran just outside the alley was overcrowded, probably with humans that the Bakemon had abducted in a similar fashion to how they had abducted Kari's parents.

As he thought about his new friend, Davis suddenly realized that Kari wasn't beside him anymore. Worried that she might've run off to try and save her parents again, Davis looked around but found to his relief that she had just taken a few steps back and sat down with her back against the wall, while Tai and Agumon had walked over to the corner of the alley to take a look at what they were dealing with.

Seeing Kari stare emptily in front of herself, Davis felt something inside him twist uncomfortably and for a moment, he forgot the situation they were in, as he was overcome by an urge to try to comfort his friend. She looked so fragile where she sat, her light brown eyes fixed on the space just in front of her now dirty socks, and the tear stains that were still visible on her cheeks did nothing to undermine the effect.

"Hey..." Davis said, hesitating only for a brief second before he walked over to where his friend was sitting. As he closed in on her however, Kari pulled her legs up towards her chest and buried her face against her knees, as if she didn't want to look at him.

"Leave me alone, Davis." she spoke hoarsely, her voice barely audible over the sound of the people outside the alley.

This got Davis to stop dead in his tracks, just a few feet in front of his friend. What was he supposed to do? Should he ignore what she had said and try to comfort her anyway, or should he listen to her and give her some space? He wasn't used to comforting people when they broke down, because none of his other friends usually broke down like this in front of their other friends. And even if they did and he had been used to it, Kari was different from his other friends.

 _"Try putting yourself in her situation."_ Jun's words from earlier came floating back to him as he desperately racked his brain for an answer to what he should do. What would he have wanted Kari to do, if it had been him worrying about his parents? He knew what it felt like to be upset about something, given how many times a week he and Jun were usually at each other's throats about something, and whenever that happened he usually preferred to be left alone.

But looking over towards where his friend was still sitting with her face buried against her knees, Davis couldn't help but feel like it would be a mistake to leave her like that. She looked so fragile, as if she would break and never heal if he as much as breathed at her in the wrong way. What if he just made it worse?

Just as he was about to throw all hesistance to the wind and just go with his gut, which was telling him to just go over there and at least let his friend know that he was there if she needed someone to talk to, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Flinching at the unexpected contact, Davis head flew to the side to look over his shoulder, fearing that maybe one of the Bakemon had found them but he found that it was just Tai, who had left his post by the corner of the alley and walked over to them.

The older boy gave him a long calculating glance, before shaking his head, as if he could tell exactly what had been going through Davis' head just then. Without hesitating, Davis took a step back to show that he had understood what his role model had been trying to convey. Tai was Kari's older brother after all, so he probably knew how to handle Kari when she got like this. And sure enough, the older boy just offered him an appreciative smile and nodded at him before he turned back towards the girl on the ground and approcahed her.

"Hey Kari?" he said as he kneelt down beside his sister and put a comforting hand on her shoulder, causing her to instantly snap her head up to look at him. "Come on, we've got to get a move on. There are too many Bakemon around these parts."

"B-but what about mom and dad?" Kari questioned with a shaky voice, her damp eyes wide in disbelief at the thought that her brother would just leave their parents behind. On some level, she knew that what her brother was saying was true. If they remained here for much longer, there was a big chance that they would be found by the Bakemon. But that didn't make it any easier for her to hear him talk about it so matter-of-factly.

"It's too dangerous." Tai said, purposely avoiding his sister's accusing gaze and instead focusing his eyes on the spot just to the left of her head. "There are too many people out there right now, it would be close to impossible to find them in the crowd and with Greymon as our only defense, I simply can't risk it. It doesn't appear as if Myotismon wants to kill anyone, or else he would've done so by now so they'll be safe for the time being."

That did little to calm the Kamiya girl down, but she had long since resigned herself to trusting her big brother on this matter, even if she didn't like this new and serious side of him that she had recently been introduced to. Taking a deep breath and praying that Tai wasn't making a mistake, she stood up from her position and looked up at her brother with a determined look in her eyes.

Seeing that his little sister had accepted his judgement in the matter, albeit reluctantly, Tai offered what he hoped was a somewhat comforting smile to her. This entire situation was killing him and he really didn't want to leave their parents behind either, but if it was one thing that he had learned from watching Matt's and TK's interractions in the Digital World, it was that sometimes you need to have the presence of mind to take a step back and look at a situation with no strings attached. Even if they were to try and find their parents in the crowd, Greymon would most likely crush a lot of the other humans in the crowd, but without Greymon they would just be captured by the Bakemon. Their hands were literally tied on the matter and as the leader of the digidestined, Tai had learnt when you needed to fall back and take a moment to regroup.

"Alright, then it's settled!" he said as he pulled out his Digivice, which had already began to glow. "Agumon! Let's go!"

" **Agumon digivolve to...** "

As the screen of the device lit up with an orange glow, Tai's partner was engulfed in a similar light, which quickly grew in size as the digivolution progressed. Davis had to cover his eyes to keep from being blinded by the glow, which contrasted heavily against the gloom and darkness of the alley they were in. Once the light died down, a new digimon stood in there in place of Agumon, one that was much larger and looked a whole lot more ferocious than the little yellow dinosaur that Davis had met half an hour ago.

" **Greymon!** " it proudly called out the name of its new form.

Even though he should've been used to it by now, Davis felt himself tremble slightly at the sight of the new monster. This was the same creature that had devastated Highton View Terrace 4 years ago! And even if he hadn't known that, Greymon still looked pretty terrifying on his own with his large red eyes, his horned brown helmet and the strong arms that ended in razor-sharp claws. Not to mention the size of his teeth!

"Davis! Hurry up! We don't have much time!" Tai's voice brought Davis out of his stupor.

Looking up, he found that both the Kamiya siblings already had climbed onto Greymon's back and was apparently waiting for him to do the same. For a moment, he just blinked as if some part of his mind still wanted to deny that this was really happening, but then he just shook his head and accepted the hand that was offered to him by his role model.

The older boy pulled him up onto Greymon's back, before climbing over to sit on his left shoulder so that the digimon could stand in his full height without the risk of accidently tipping them off of him. Davis mimicked his role model and climbed onto the other shoulder, where he was joined by Kari, since Tai took up too much space on the other shoulder. Once all three of them were seated somewhat comfortably, Tai nodded at Greymon who then left the alley and charged away in the direction where his partner had pointed out to him earlier when they had been scanning the area.

If someone had told Davis just a few days ago that he would be riding a digital dinosaur through the streets of Odaiba, along with his role model Taichi Kamiya and his little sister Hikari, he would've told them that they were crazy. As soon as Greymon made his presence known to the public, the already frigthened humans became even more terrified, if the screams were anything to go by.

The Bakemon had gathered the inhabitants that they had captured in the middle of the streets and was hovering around the crowd, probably to dissuade anyone form trying to escape. Davis didn't have a lot of time to take the scene in however, as Greymon made a mad dash to get away from the crowd as soon as they exited the alley. For such a large and bulky creature, he was surprisingly fast and Davis had to hold on tight to not fall off.

"Kari! Tai!" a familiar voice rang over the bustling sounds of the crowd.

Upon hearing her mom's voice amongst the crowd, Kari's eyes widened and she felt like someone had just kicked her in the gut, as it was made even more real to her what she was doing. She was abandoning her parents! Leaving them at the mercy of an evil digimon whose intentions they knew nothing about! For a moment, she forgot that she had promised Taichi to come along with him and loosened her grip on Greymon's neck, her instincts telling her to go find her parents, but before she could let go of her brother's partner, she felt someone else's hand wrap around hers to steady her grip.

"Don't do it, Kari! I know what you're thinking, but you heard your brother. We've got to get to safety and find out more about the situation before we can do anything." Davis said firmly as he steadied his hold around her hand.

As Kari looked up into Davis eyes, she felt the emotional stress and trauma from the last day finally catch up to her and something within her snapped. All the confusion, all the anger and all the fear that she had built up over the last 20 hours overwhelmed her and she felt like her entire body was on fire from the conflicting emotions she felt as she looked into Davis calming eyes.

 _Slap!_

Time seemed to slow down as Kari raised her still free hand and brought it down on her friend, leaving a red hand-shaped mark on his cheek. Davis eyes widened in shock when he felt the stinging sensation that accompanied the slap and just like when Kari had hit him in the head earlier, he lost his grip on her hand, and his grip on Greymon.

Kari's eyes widened in horror once she realized what she had done. For a brief moment, their eyes met and Kari got a good glimpse of the shock and hurt in her friend's eyes over her actions. A terrible feeling of regret welled up in her chest as her behavior towards him within the last hour replayed in her mind. The things she had screamed at him, hitting him in the head, telling him to go away and leave her alone... and now this. Just two hours ago, she had cried to her brother and hoped that they could patch up their friendship and now that he had apologized and they had made up, the first thing she did was treat him like dirt... she was a terrible friend.

"D-Davis..." she croaked hoarsely, her voice still sore from her screaming earlier. "I... I didn't mean..."

Unfortunately for Kari, she didn't get to finish her apology.

" **V-Breath Arrow!** "

A large, V-shaped projectile came flying at them out of nowhere and nailed Greymon in the chest, causing the dinosaur to roar in pain and topple over, landing on his back. In the processs, all three kids that had been riding on his shoulder got tossed off. Tai, who by now had become used to being tossed through the air, righted himself mid air and landed on his feet, as if he had practiced being tossed around by giant monsters ever since he was born. Sadly, the same couldn't be said about his sister and her friend, both of whom landed clumsily in a heap a few feet away on the ground.

Davis groaned in discomfort as his sense slowly came back to him. Even though he wasn't as used to being tossed around by giant monsters like his role model was, he was at least trained to recover quickly from being thrown into the ground during soccer games, since the opposing teams tended to always put pressure on the players they preceived as the biggest threats to their goalkeeper. While being tossed off a charging dinosaur and land on asphalt definetely hurt more than being slide tackled by a 9 year old kid, it could've been worse.

Feeling the adrenaline from earlier still pump through him, Davis was quickly on his feet and looked around. They had made decent progress before they had been interrupted and had put some distance between themselves and the crowd that the Bakemon had gathered from the surrounding apartment buildings so at least Greymon hadn't fallen and accidently hurt any of the other humans.

"I thought it was getting a little noisy over here." an unfamiliar voice rumbled from somewhere in the direction that the projectile had come from earlier. "And look what I found when I got here! A Digidestined and his little pet Digimon!"

Upon hearing the voice, Davis spun around on the spot to see what it was that had halted their progress. It didn't sound like another Bakemon, but it had to be some kind of Digimon, probably one that he had never seen before. And sure enough, about 200 meters further down the road he could see a large silhouette approaching, one that was just barely smaller than Greymon.

As their attacker came into view, the first thing that stood out to Davis were the pointy horns on its head, one that stood vertical from its nose and two that stuck out from the back of the dragon-like monster's head, forming a V-shape. The large beast was blue and white in color and had a blue V imprinted on its abdomen, which stood out clearly against the white scales on its belly. Like Greymon, it had clear red eyes that seemed to almost glow in the darkness that still surrounded them, but unlike their orange and blue-striped friend, this creature's eyes had a cold gleam of disinterest in his eyes that sent shivers down Davis' spine when he looked into them.

"I don't believe it..." the low rumble of Greymon's voice broke Davis out of his stupor. "A Veedramon!"

When Veedramon stopped just about 50 meters away from them, Tai immediately sunk into a crouched position, ready to jump out of the way in case their opponent decided to charge at them. He didn't know what they were up against, but whatever this Veedramon was capable of it didn't look like a pushover and on top of that, it had managed to throw Greymon off his feet with a single attack! No matter what the context, that was no small feat.

"Greymon, do you know this guy?" he asked cautiously, taking in the appearence of their attacker. Veedramon and Greymon appeared to be of similar build, with Veedramon being just slightly shorter than his own partner. However, he had learnt the hard way not to measure strength by size. They had made that mistake the first time they met Gatomon, and it had cost them greatly.

"Yeah." Greymon rumbled as he rose to his feet and took a ready-position beside his partner. "Veedramon was a Mythical Dragon Species that was said to inhabit the Folder Continent, a landmass in the Digital World that supposedly sunk into the ocean thousands of years ago. However, with Folder's destruction the Veedramon species was believed to have gone extinct! Some even say that they never existed in the first place!"

Veedramon, who had obviously overheard their conversation, snorted at Greymon's statement.

"Not all of us inhabited Folder when the Great Cataclysm happened, Greymon." he (Davis assumed that this Digimon was male, based on its voice) said with a humorless laugh, almost sounding bitter about the subject. "I had just recently relocated to the Server Continent a few months before my home was destroyed."

After this, the blue dragon trailed off, as if talking about it brought back bad memories that he would rather not talk about. Despite their current situation, Davis couldn't help but feel a sting of sympathy for the monster. He hadn't understood half of what the two reptilian Digimon had just said, but what he had managed to gather was that Veedramon's species was basically extinct, and that the continent they had inhabited had somehow been destroyed, meaning that the Veedramon that was standing before them could very well be the last of its kind.

"But none of that matters now!" Veedramon said as he shook his head and refocused on his task. "I have orders to locate the 8th Digidestined and bring him before Myotismon alive. It sucks that I'll have to fight a kid, but the old vampire have put quite a juicy bounty fee on his head and a mon's got to eat after all."

Over where he was standing by his partner's leg, Tai frowned. This Digimon was different from the others they had fought since they had come back to the Human World. For starters, he didn't refer to Myotismon by his self-proclaimed title of "Lord". In fact, he sounded quite disrespectful towards his supposed leader by calling him "old vampire". Secondly, he didn't appear to think of himself as part of Myotismon's Army, since he apparently only was after the 8th child to grab a supposed "bounty" that Myotismon had placed on his head...

"You're a mercenary." Tai stated, his eyes narrowing as he stared down the Mythical Dragon Digimon who was standing opposite to him.

When Veedramon gave no verbal response, Tai took that as confirmation that his guess had been right. Slowly, he began to back away from their opponent, trusting that his partner would stop Veedramon if he decided to charge. Since they were dealing with a mercenary, it could be assumed that he wouldn't have any interest in destroying them, like the rest of Myotismon's army, so that was a good thing. The problem was that one of them happened to be the person who Veedramon had set his sights on.

Glancing over his shoulder, Tai found that Davis was currently staring wide eyed at Veedramon, not even blinking. Since Myotismon's goal was to capture the 8th child, their priority should be on getting Davis to safety before anything else happened. There had to be a reason why Myotismon feared this Digidestined more than he feared the other 7 of them, and if they could just figure out why, they could potentially end Myotismon's reign before he managed to cause too much damage.

"Davis!" he called, getting the attention of the stunned boy. "Take Kari with you and get out of here! Greymon and I will hold off Veedramon while you two make a run for it!"

As his mind processed what Tai had said, Davis felt like the blood froze in his veins and a terrible cold gripped at his chest. Kari! What had happened to Kari when they fell? He had been so focused on himself and their new enemy that he had completely forgotten about his friend! Spinning around in the spot to look for her, he found her still on the ground just a few meters behind him. She was sitting up with her face scrunged up in pain and she had both her hands at her ankle.

"Kari!" he cried out in shock, cursing himself mentally for forgetting about her. In an instant, he was by her side and was gently prying her hands away from her twisted ankle. The limb had already begun to swell and it had attained an unhealthy shade of blue. "I'm so sorry! I totally forgot about you. Does this hurt?"

When Davis poked the bulge on her ankle lightly, Kari gasped in pain and immediately slapped his hand away. It felt like someone was twisting a knife or some other sharp object inside her leg, and the uncomfortable sensation was enough to bring tears to the young girl's eyes. Davis took the hint and immediately retracted his hand from Kari's injured leg. Instead, he carefully grabbed her arm and drapped it over his shoulder before he slowly pulled her to her feet, just like he had done yesterday when he had first found her sick in the street and unable to support herself. Kari flinched slightly from the strain it put on her ankle to get off the ground but once they were standing straight again and she could lean against Davis for support, she seemed to relax a little.

"There we go." Davis said as he looked around for anywhere to run where Veedramon wouldn't be able to go after them. They weren't too far away from the apartment building where he lived and he still had his apartment key in his pocket. Perhaps they could hide out there until the worst of this crazy invasion had passed? If they could just get there, that was. "Okay, we need to get out of here. Try to lean on me as much as you can. Whatever you do, don't put any weight on your injured leg or you might make it worse!"

Kari just nodded numbly as she stared at her friend in shock. Had he already forgotten that she had just slapped him across the face? The red hand-mark was still visible on his cheek, and it made Kari feel guilty just looking at it. It made her insides twist thinking about how awefully she had treated her friend since they had made up, and the fact that Davis didn't even seem to blame her made it even worse. Kari had been upset when Davis went to play soccer with his other friends, and had sulked and felt sorry for herself for an entire afternoon just because of that. But Davis didn't even bat an eyelash after being hit in the head, slapped across the face and told that she hated him...

"I'm afraid you won't be going anywhere!" Veedramon's rumbling voice interrupted her thoughts. "You may not be the 8th child, but handing in a Digidestined to Myotismon should fetch me enough digidollars for at least a weeks worth of food!"

With that, the Mythical Dragon Digimon charged towards the three children with his eyes glued at Tai, who was holding his Digivice in his hand which marked him as a Digidestined. Reacting quickly, Greymon took a step forward and intercepted his enemy, but was pushed back by the sheer might of his opponent. Just like Tai had feared, Veedramon was stronger than his size suggested, possibly even stronger than Greymon. The two reptilian Digimon were locked in a handstand and Greymon had to dig his feet deep into the ground to keep himself from being pushed further back.

"Go!" Taichi called to the two 9 year olds. "We'll be right behind you, once we kick this guy's butt!"

Davis needed no further encouragement, as he and Kari escaped down a nearby alley. As soon as the two of them were out of sight, the leader of the Digidestined took a deep breath and reached inside himself to find the burning determination that had guided him through their final fight against Etemon, and then again through his quest to reunite the Digidestined when they were separated. The golden pendant that hung around his neck heated up and began to glow orange, along with his Digivice.

"Greymon!" he called to his partner. "Knock him back! Let's take this to the next level!"

After a moment of struggling with his opponent, Greymon managed to push their locked arms to the side and headbutt Veedramon, causing their horned heads to bounce of each other without seemingly doing any damage to either of them. However, it gave Greymon just the opening he needed.

" **Nova Blast!** " he roared as he released a huge fireball from his mouth that nailed Veedramon square in the chest and sent the Mythical Dragon flying back a few feet before he landed in a heap. Greymon noted with a smug sense of satisfaction that Veedramon, due to his smaller frame, had actually become airborne from the attack, whereas he himself had only toppled over from Veedramon's attack earlier.

As he watched Veedramon get thrown back by Greymon's attack, Tai saw his chance. The bulge on his chest began to glow even brigther and his Digivice started screeching as he pulled on the power of his Crest of Courage. Just like before, Greymon began glowing orange and his already impressive frame grew even larger. His left arm also expanded and took on a mechanic appearence that went with a chestplate that formed over his chest. His brown helmet changed to one made of metal, and a mane of wild orange hair sprouted out from under the back of his helmet. To top it off, the orange dinosaur grew a pair of large purple wings.

" **Greymon digivolve to... MetalGreymon!** "

Tai let out a sigh of relief as the digivolution finished without interruption. Digivolving from Champion to Ultimate always took a little more time than their regular digivolution from Rookie to Champion, since it required a whole lot more power to accomplish. It wasn't something that they had immediately picked up on but Izzy, being the observant genius that he was, had of course noticed it once he began to look deeper into Ultimate Digivolution after his partner had achieved it. Because of this, they usually had the others covering whoever was going Ultimate when they did it, or tried to digivolve before the battle begun, to avoid being left as sitting ducks.

"Now that's more like it! Show him what you've got, MetalGreymon!" Tai cheered his partner on.

Truth to be told, he wasn't sure if it was worth wasting so much energy on a single Champion when he had no idea what else could be lurking about, but they needed to finish this quickly. Davis and Kari were defenseless while they were on their own and the longer he left them that way, the bigger the risk that something would find them. If he could have, Tai would've escaped with them but he couldn't leave Greymon alone to fight off Veedramon. Besides, it wasn't as if he himself would be of much help if another Digimon decided to attack them.

 **-:-:-:-**

Yamato "Matt" Ishida sighed as he checked the time on his Digivice for what had to be the 10th time within the last 5 minutes. They had been stuck in traffic for over 40 minutes now and the taxi had barely moved since they had come to a stop half-way across the Rainbow Bridge. Clicking his tongue in annoyance, Matt pocketed his Digivice again and looked out the window at the impenetrable fog that surrounded the bridge.

After their encounter with Myotismon earlier that evening, Matt and TK had made an effort to locate the unidentified Digivice signal that their Digivices had picked up during the fight. Despite Matt's protest that it was getting late, TK had insisted that he wanted to just give it a few more minutes until eventually, the events from the day had caught up with his little brother and they had been forced to call of their search. Seeing that his brother had been tired enough to fall asleep where he was standing, Matt had decided to just call a taxi to get him home.

Currently, the younger boy was sleeping soundly in his seat with Patamon curled up into a ball in his lap. Matt's own partner, Gabumon, had reverted back to his In-Training form after his fight against Myotismon and had also fallen asleep shortly after they had sat down in the taxi. Thankfully, neither of the two Digimon made any sounds as they slept, so they could easily pass as some kind of stuffed animals.

"Excuse me, sir?" Matt asked as he leaned forward to talk with the taxi driver. "Do you know what's taking so long? We've been stuck here for almost 45 minutes now!"

The driver, a middle aged brown-haired man, turned around to face him and shook his head.

"I'm sorry sir." he said apologetically. "I've been trying to find out what's going on through the radio, but all the channels are just filled with static."

Hearing that the radio was just receiving static on all channels, Matt frowned. That sounded very strange. He watched as the taxi driver tried to call someone on his phone but even from the backseat Matt could hear that the phone also received just static, as if all radio signals were being disrupted. A sense of foreboding began to creep up on him as he looked back out the window at the fogbank that surrounded Rainbow Bridge on all sides. Something here was very wrong...

 _Grwooooooooh._

A rumbling sound that sounded suspiciously like a distant roar echoed from somewhere far ahead of them in the fog and Matt felt his heart sink in his chest and suddenly, the reason for the hold-up became painfully clear to him. There was something here on the bridge, something that shouldn't be here. Feeling his heartbeat increase, he cautiously reached back into his pocket and retrieved his Digivice.

"What was that strange sound?" the driver asked, craning his neck to try and make out something through the thick layer of fog that obscured their vision. When he couldn't see anything, he unlocked the door and stepped outside as if that would help him see through the fog. Once he was outside, Matt reached over and shook his sleeping partner and brother awake.

"Hey, wake up guys." he whispered quietly. "There's trouble brewing."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** _Yup, there is indeed trouble brewing for our young heroes. After a lot of consideration, I decided that it wouldn't hurt to show a few of the changes that happened to the other Digidestined, since they are in fact the result of Davis being involved in the invasion in a way that he wasn't in canon. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed Chapter 5!_

 _Now, I don't know about you guys but I feel like the "fight" situation in this chapter was kind of stiff. Of course, there was a lot of conversation going on during that same fight, but I still feel like that scene right there definetely wasn't my brightest moment as a Fanfic Author. I would appreciate it if someone who was well-versed in the art of writing fight scenes could give me a few pointers, either in a review or in a PM._

 _Speaking of reviews, I am sad to say that we didn't reach the Review Goal I had set for the last chapter, which was 100 reviews. I admit that maybe I was being a little too optimistic, but I am confident that we can get past 100 reviews with this chapter! I'm just gonna leave it at that. On a side note, I want to take the time out to say that this story is now the most reviewed and followed Digimon story on this site that have been posted within the last 6 months, and it is currently tied at 87 favs within the same time period (with Digimon Hunter Davis). That is INSANE! Thank you guys so much! You're awesome and I feel so happy knowing that people appreciate the work I put into this story!_

* * *

 _And of course, to my **Honorable Guest** : Yeah, Davis is still making it up as he goes along. It is still Davis after all. Actually, I am not entirerly sure if it is canon or not that humans become more impervious to injury while in the Digital World or not. I mean, Kari twisted her ankle pretty easily in Adventure 02 and TK beat the living crap out of Ken while he was the Emperor. Though admitedly, 02 did have a lot of trouble with consistency..._

 _I guess that Homeostasis and Yggdrasil do fill similar roles, but I prefer to think of them as separate beings since they haven't been officially confirmed to be the same entity. Also, as far as I can tell Homeostasis didn't have any actual powers (unless you count possessing 8-9 year old girls as a power) whereas Yggdrasil seems to have some kind of connection or control over the existance of the Digital World. Maybe that's just the impression he made on me though, and I admit that my impression of him comes more from the Digital Monster X-Evolution movie than from Data Squad/Savers. And while it is plenty of fun to speculate, it won't lead us anywhere since the name Homeostasis haven't even been mentioned since the Adventure series so we can't confirm anything._

 _Anyway, I imagine that there was a lot to comment upon in this chapter, since I am heading into uncharted territory with my writing here. A lot of my writing comes from me being able to relate the characters I portray and while I have been in life-death situation, I have never experienced them next to a Digital Dinosaur, so it's hard to really relate to what the characters might be feeling or thinking in that situation. I'll cross my fingers that it turned out okay though. Hope you enjoyed it and I look forward to reading your next review! :)_


	7. Chapter 6: Separated

**Author's Note:** _Dear readers! Today is a great day! Today, it's been exactly a **month** since I posted the first chapter of this story and since then, we have gathered **91** favourites, **101** followers and **115** reviews! I just want to take the time out here to **thank you guys** so much for your support, and express just how much it means to me as a writer that so many people enjoy reading what I waste plenty of **irreplaceable** hours in my life writing! You guys are **awesome** , thank you so much! :)_

 _Also, by some miracle, this **special** anniversary (well, it's a sort-of anniversarie at least) happened to coincide with a chapter that contains one of the **first scenes** I planned out when I began to write this story. I feel like it turned out pretty good and I hope that you guys think the same! This chapter is also **a bit longer** than the previous chapters, and in **honor** of it this story having made it through its first month, I decided to pick a quote from **Digimon itself** that I found particularly inspiring when I was a kid and watched the show. However, since I watched the **swedish version** when I was growing up, it might not be entirerly accurate to what was said in the english version, but **kudos** to anyone who **recognize** the quote and can tell me where its from in a review!_

 _And of course, my **Honorable Guest** will find his answer at the bottom of the chapter! Enjoy! :)_

 **Disclaimer:** Despite everything special with this chapter, I still don't own Digimon.

* * *

 _"I'll do it, I have to. I don't particularly want to do it, but if I can't do this, right here, right now, then perhaps  
I'll never be able to do it. You have to face yourself before you're ready to face your enemy."_

 **Chapter VI:** Separated

It took a little while to wake Patamon and Tsunomon up, as they were both still exhausted from their clash with Myotismon earlier that evening. When Matt and TK had finally shook them awake and left the car, things were already going south. The fog had thinned out somewhat and a large, serpentine silhouette was visible through it, one that made Matt's blood practically freeze in his veins.

"Is that Seadramon?!" he asked his partner, feeling a phantom sensation of cold, slimy scales slithering around his body and he shuddered at the memory of their ecounter with the Sea Serpent on File Island during the early days of their adventure.

That had been one of the few times during their journey that Matt had truly thought that it was over for him. In his desperation to protect TK from harm, he had drawn the attention of the offending Champion Digimon and had almost ended up as a snack for the large dragon of the lake as a result. If Gabumon hadn't digivolved and stopped him when he did, it could've really meant the end for him.

"It looks like him, but it's too hard to see through this fog!" Tsunomon complained as he squinted his eyes to try and make out any details from the large silhouette. "We'll have to get closer to find out, but I think this might be something even worse. This one looks way too big to be just a regular Seadramon!"

Squinting with his eyes, Matt felt all the blood drain from his face in horror as he realized that his partner was right. While Seadramon had been large and terrifying on his own, he had still been small enough to fit within a small lake on File Island. This creature, whatever it was, was thicker than the oak trees back in the Odaiba Park and appeared to have curled its body _around_ the Rainbow Bridge a bit further up the road from them. Whatever this creature was, it was too big to be a Seadramon.

As the large sea serpent lifted its head and roared towards the sky, Matt felt himself tremble and he instinctively stepped in front of his brother to protect him. However, it only took one glance over his shoulder for him to realize that TK was currently better off than he himself was. Patamon had only joined the fight against Myotismon in its last stages, so he wasn't even close to as tired as Tsunomon was. If push came to shove, Patamon probably still had it in himself to go a few rounds with a new monster, whereas his own partner did not. But to send TK and his partner out to fight...

"Come on, Matt! We've got to do something!" his brother looked up at him with a determined expression on his face.

Instantly, Matt looked away and took in the chaotic scene in front of him. People were running around in a panic, trying desperately to get away from the large beast which they knew nothing about. On some level, Matt knew that TK was right. They had to do something, they were the only ones who had even the slightest idea of what they were dealing with here! But he couldn't. He couldn't conciously send his brother into battle, there was no way he could do that when he was aware of how much damage a single Digimon could cause.

"What can we do, TK?" he attempted to dissuade his brother from taking action. "Tsunomon is too tired to fight and that thing looks like it could be a really strong Champion, maybe even an Ultimate Digimon! What are we supposed to do?"

"Well, we've got to do something! We're the only ones who can do anything at all!" Tk argued, probably not even realizing how right he really was.

Matt grit his teeth in frustration as he fought with his consciense about their course of action, stuck between what he wanted to do and what he knew to be the right thing to do. So this was what it felt like to be a leader, to be the one making all the important decisions. It was just like when Tai had disappeared after their fight with Etemon and the group had been stuck arguing between themselves about their course of action. Up until that point, Matt hadn't truly appreciated what Tai's determination and stubborn resolve really did for the team dynamic, but after that he had learned to never underestimate the difficult task that was leading. If Tai had been here, what would he have done?

' _Stupid question.'_ Matt thought as an image of Tai's face flashed before his eyes, his eyes practically gleaming with a burning determination that Matt wished that he himself had. ' _He wouldn't even hesitate in a situation like this, even if he himself was unable to fight. He would charge straight ahead to save as many people as he could, and the rest of us would follow.'_

"You're right, TK." Matt heard himself say, without even realizing it. Somehow, thinking about what his acknowledged leader would have done in this situation had allowed him to take a deep breath and calm down somewhat. Somehow, the thought of Tai's fearless and determined expression, even in the face of danger, had made his course of action clear to him. As much as he hated the thought of letting TK anywhere near a battle, he wouldn't be able to face their friends again, least of all Tai himself, if he turned tails and ran now. "Digivolve Patamon and try to keep that monster busy while I make sure everyone makes it off the bridge. But whatever you do, _don't get too close_ to the fighting, do you hear me?!"

Turning to look at his little brother, he found TK nodding at him eagerly, a determined expression on his face. Seeing the expression on his brother's face, Matt felt something within him twist uncomfortably but he swallowed it down for the time being. Steadying his grip on Tsunomon, he turned back to face whatever monstrosity was terrorizing Rainbow Bridge and took off in a sprint down the road, in the opposite direction from what most people were running in. He could think about that later, right now their priority was to save as many people as they could before that sea serpent got its hands (eh, fins?) on them.

 **-:-:-:-**

" **Mega Claw!** " MetalGreymon's rumbling voice echoed across the street as he detached his cybernetic left arm and sent it flying towards his opponent. As much as he hated to admit it, this Veedramon was stronger than he had expected. He had heard legends about the Veedramon species and their seemingly inherent combat prowess while he was still a young Koromon, but he had never believed that he would come face to face with one so he had merely passed them off as legends.

As the metallic arm closed in on him, Veedramon sunk into a crouching stance and dug his feet into the ground. Just before the attack connected, he raised his arms in front of him and grabbed the giant mechanical claw by its outermost fingers to keep it from piercing his torso. The pure strength of the attack pushed him back and tore up the ground around his feet, but the Champion himself barely took any damage at all and once the flying claw had lost its momentum, it stopped dead in its tracks.

 _'N-no way!'_ Tai thought with a growing sense of dread as he watched his opponent fling the Mega Claw away into the air with a mighty roar and emerge from the clash with barely a scratch. ' _He actually caught MetalGreymon's Mega Claw and tossed it away without receiving as much as a scratch!'_

While the robotic arm re-attached itself to his partner, Tai began to consider their options. Unlike what he had thought, Veedramon hadn't charged straight towards them when he had received the chance. He was smart and had hung back and preserved his energy while tiring out MetalGreymon, probably recognizing that his opponent was a level higher than him and as such possessed greater potential to deal high damage. The longer the battle had been drawn out though, the more power MetalGreymon had began to use up in the hopes that he could break through Veedramon's defense, but it had been for naught and now, the Mythical Dragon had even blocked his Mega Claw! That attack had been strong enough to tear through Etemon's Dark Network like it was mincemeat and it had just been blocked by a mere Champion!

Tightening his grip on his screeching Digivice, Tai grit his teeth in frustration. This was bad, _really_ bad! The longer they drew this battle out, the harder it would be to find Davis and Kari once they were done, but rushing it clearly hadn't worked in their favour either. Tai knew that MetalGreymon's Giga Blaster was capable of causing massive damage to both its target and their surroundings, but he couldn't just fire of the organic missiles left and right for a multitude of reasons.

First off, the attack used up a lot of energy and MetalGreymon usually only had enough for up to 3 shots, and that was when he was at full strength which he wasn't right now, since Veedramon had made sure to tire him out. Secondly, Veedramon was surprisingly agile for a creature as big as he was, and if he dodged the attack then they would've wasted a lot of energy and potentially also destroyed the surrounding buildings for nothing. Finally, there was the fact that they were in a cramped area, they had no idea how many humans could be trying to hide in the vicinity and if they missed a shot, it would blow up the entire block. Simply put, it just wasn't worth the risk.

"Well, any bright ideas yet, Tai? I'm starting to get tired here!" MetalGreymon panted out as he flew back to catch his breath.

The ground shook as the large, orange dinosaur landed again after having been airborne for a few minutes. And the moment that his feet touched the ground, Veedramon saw his chance and acted on it.

" **V-Breath Arrow!** " he quickly charged up his attack and let it loose towards his opponent. MetalGreymon's eyes widened and he clumsily took a step to the side in an attemp to avoid it, but it wasn't enough. The V-shaped projectile nailed him just above his right knee and with a roar of pain, he toppled over towards the side and crushed the building to his right.

"No!" Tai cried out in horror as he watched a good part of the apartment build crumble and collapse atop his partner, who screamed in pain as his head and torso was burried underneath several large chunks of concrete.

Once the dust settled, Tai immediately ran up to the unmoving form of his partner. Since he hadn't reverted back to his Rookie form yet, he assumed that MetalGreymon wasn't completely out of it yet, but he didn't look too good either, lying with the upper part of his body burried beneath what had to be several tons of rubble.

"MetalGreymon! Are you okay?!" he called, hoping that his partner could hear him underneath all that rubble. "Come on! Can you hear me?! You've got to get up, MetalGreymon!"

When he received no answer, Tai felt his heart sink in his chest as he realized that despite staying in his Ultimate form, MetalGreymon was knocked out. He wasn't necessarily injured so he wasn't weak enough to be forcefully reverted back into an earlier digivolution stage, but all that concrete must've hit his head and shaken him up pretty badly.

How?

How was it possible that with a single attack, Veedramon had managed to take his partner out of commission? And why hadn't he been able to dodge the attack? While MetalGreymon was in no way an agile fighter, he was usually swift enough to avoid ranged attacks like Veedramon's and if not avoid them, he could usually take them without much effort. So why had Veedramon's attack had such an impact on him?

"It was the sudden change in weight balance from when your partner landed on solid ground again." Tai heard Veedramon's voice speak up from somewhere behind him and he almost jumped out of his skin in fright.

Reminded that they were still in the middle of a fight, Tai was quickly on his feet again and spun around to find that Veedramon had closed the distance between them again, standing just about 30 meters away from him and the unconcious MetalGreymon. However for some reason, he was hanging back and didn't show any particular interest in finishing off his downed opponent, at least not for the time being.

"What do you mean?" Tai asked cautiously, desperately fighting the urge to run away and hide behind some of the fallen concrete. No matter what, he would not show fear in front of their enemy!

"When a flying Digimon lands on the ground again after having hovered in the air for a while, their body and particularly their sense of balance takes a short few seconds to re-adjust to the change in weight distribution across their muscles." Veedramon explained, his eyes drifting from Tai to the form of his knocked out partner. "This is especially true for large and heavy Digimon like MetalGreymon. During the few seconds their body is re-adjusting, their sense of balance is thrown off and it makes their movements sluggish and clumsy. When my attack injured his right leg, what little balance he still had disappeared and his leg gave in."

As Tai's mind processed what he had just been told, he couldn't help but feel slightly awed at his enemy's precision and well-timed attack. Even though he was no tactical expert like Izzy, even he could understand how extremely well-timed Veedramon's attack must have been to have caught MetalGreymon in the exact moment when he was at his most vulnerable. Veedramon had known that in a contest of strength, he was no match for MetalGreymon so he had been fighting more with his brains than with his brawns to make up for it, and it had proved to be frighteningly effective. He was good at what he did.

"Is that so?" a voice rumbled from somewhere behind Tai, startling both the digidestined and Veedramon.

With a mighty roar, MetalGreymon jumped to his feet, sending debris flying in all directions with enough force to hit even Veedramon, who was standing 30 meters away. The Mythical Dragon, who had thought that his opponent had been knocked out, hadn't expected the sudden attack and stumbled as a large chunk of concrete hit him in the chest and caused him to lose his breath. Tai, who had been standing just 2 meters away from the pile of rubble that had concealed MetalGreymon's upper body, had to throw himself to the ground to avoid being hit by the debris.

" **Giga Blaster!** " MetalGreymon roared as his _dented_ chestplate opened up and fired off two identical organic missiles that each resembled a large ugly smiling fish. Standing just 30 meters away and still not having recovered from the concrete that had hit him, Veedramon was unable to dodge the attack.

Tai covered his ears and shut his eyes tightly as a large explosion rocked the entire street. A large shadow fell over him and his mind quickly recognized that his partner had leaned over him to shield him from any debris that could've been shaken up from the explosion. The chaos lasted for a few seconds before it died down, and MetalGreymon waited a few more seconds before he finally stood up again, just to make sure that no stray debris would fall on his human partner.

"Are you okay, Tai?" he asked worriedly, as his partner shook his head to get rid of the dust in his hair and the ringing sound in his ears. "I should've warned you, but I needed Veedramon to lower his guard."

It took a few moments for Tai to completely regain his senses. His ears were still ringing loudly from the explosion and his balance was completely off from all the shaking. Eventually, he recovered to a point where his mind could process what his partner had said and he was just about to reply that he was fine when he stood up and froze in place when he saw the devastation they had caused.

There was a large crater in the middle of the street and the lower segments of the nearby buildings had _melted_ open from the heat of the explosion and even where the walls had remained intact, they were scorched and completely black. As he gazed out over the destroyed street, Tai found himself at a loss for words as his mind struggled to identify this as a street just a few blocks away from his own home.

"Tai? Do you hear me? Tai!" MetalGreymon repeated, his worry for his partner's well-being rising when he didn't receive an answer.

Shaking his head again, Tai forcefully pushed the conflicting emotions to the back of his conscience. Now was not the time to think about that. He could worry about the moral of their fights when they had beaten Myotismon. He was the leader of the Digidestined! If he began to question their course of action now, then the fight was already lost.

"Yeah, I'm fine." he spoke quietly without enthusiasm. MetalGreymon seemed to pick up on the fact that he was in no mood to talk right now, because he didn't prod for further details about his well-being. For a few seconds, both human and Digimon stood absolutely still as they took in the damage they had caused to the city, one of them fighting the urge to throw up from the pressure this added on him and one of them feeling sympathy for his partner. Then...

"Impressive."

From a large pile of concrete, Veedramon re-emerged. The Mythical Dragon's light blue hide had been scorched and he sported a few open flesh wounds across his chest that was leaking data-particles, but he appeared to be otherwise fine, if a little worn out. He was panting heavily and it was clear that MetalGreymon's attack had done a number on him, but considering that he had been hit by a Giga Blaster square in the chest, he shouldn't be moving around at all!

"How?!" MetalGreymon said in disbelief, staring wide-eyed at his opponent as if he didn't want to believe his eyes. "You were struck by my strongest attack head on! My Giga Blaster should've torn you to shreds!"

When Veedramon didn't answer, Tai's mind frantically tried to come up with a reason to why Veedramon was still alive. His partner was right, there should've been no way that Veedramon could've survived that blast! He had been hit straight in the chest by the missiles, hadn't he? However, as he repalyed the events in his mind, something occured to Tai and his eyes widened in realization.

"The attack never connected." he gasped out as he recalled how Veedramon had taken a large chunk of concrete to the chest just seconds before MetalGreymon had unleashed his attack upon him. "He was shielded by the large piece of concrete that covered his chest at the point of impact. The Giga Blaster hit the concrete and exploded on contact with that, not with Veedramon himself!"

The Mythical Dragon Digimon gave a tired nod in response, probably too worn out to be able to say something. Even if he had been lucky and the Giga Blaster hadn't hit him, he had still been caught in a massive explosion and it had clearly done its number on him. For a moment, Tai was tempted to let MetalGreymon loose on their opponent to finish him off, but one look at his partner quickly dissuaded him.

MetalGreymon also suffered from a lot of open wounds on his upper body, and both his chestplate and his helmet had been dented in more than one place by the rubble that had rained down on him after he fell. He also had a large gash on his right thigh, just above the knee where Veedramon's attack had hit him earlier. On top of that, he was panting heavily from having exhausted a lot of energy in the early stages of the fight, and from using a Giga Blaster when he was already low on energy reserves. To push him any further could be dangerous, and if he fell while Veedramon was still able to go on, it would be over for them. As much as Tai hated to admit defeat, he knew not to push their limits when they were on their last leg.

This fight was over.

"MetalGreymon!" he called as he walked up to stand beside his friend. "Let's fall back. Davis and Kari have had plenty of time to escape by now so they should be a safe distance away from here now. We'll go and pick them up and then we'll regroup with the others."

Upon hearing what his partner was saying, MetalGreymon's eyes widened. He had never heard Tai back down from a fight ever before. It was one of the traits that always inspired him to keep going while they were fighting against impossible odds, and he knew that it was also one of the things that made the others trust him as their leader, rather than anyone else.

"No!" he protested. "Don't worry, Tai. I can still keep going! We can still win this!"

However, his human partner just shook his head.

"It's not worth the risk. We won't accomplish anything by continuing this fight." Tai said, his eyes never leaving Veedramon. The Mythical Dragon hadn't said a word since he had revealed that he had survived the explosion, but he was still a very real threat. "Our priority should be on making sure that Davis and Kari are okay, not to win the battle. The longer we leave them alone, the bigger the risk that they get captured."

As he was reminded of the two young children they had been fighting to protect, MetalGreymon stiffened in shock before lowering his head in shame. He had been so enticed by the thought of winning the fight that he had completely forgotten why they had been fighting in the first place. Without uttering another word, he reached down and scooped up his partner and placed him on his mechanical shoulder. Tai was right, their priority should be on protecting his sister and her friend, and to meet up with the others to plan on their next move. Winning a fight wouldn't mean anything if they didn't accomplish anything by doing it.

"Okay, you're right of course." he said as he rose in his full height and spread his large, purple wings. "I'm sorry for questioning your judgement, Tai."

Keeping a careful eye on Veedramon to make sure he didn't try anything while they were trying to take off, MetalGreymon slowly but steadily rose into the air and left the battlefield. As they soared high above the buildings of Odaiba, Tai finally allowed himself a moment to relax. He couldn't check what time it was on his Digivice, since it was currently directing all its energy to maintaining his partner's digivolution, but he was pretty sure that it was well past bedtime for them. But he couldn't sleep, not yet at least. There was too much happening, and they still had so much to do...

 **-:-:-:-**

While Tai and MetalGreymon were locked in combat with Veedramon, Davis and Kari had made their way past the alley and had managed to put a few blocks between themselves and the battle. Luckily for them, it appeared as if the Bakemon had already sweeped the buildings on this street, because they hadn't run into any of them so far. Currently, the two of them had taken cover in an abandoned garage where the door had been broken down, presumably when the Bakemon had come knocking, to allow Davis to take a breather.

The boy in question let out a sigh of relief as he sunk back against the wall. While Kari wasn't really that heavy, it still took a toll on him to have to support her weight since she couldn't even help to support herself with her twisted ankle. They had attempted it a few blocks back and all it had done was bring tears to his friend's eyes, so he had immediately told her off from doing it, not wishing for her ankle to get worse.

As he thought about making injuries worse, he slowly reached up and touched his cheek where Kari had slapped him just moments before Veedramon's attack. The skin around the area still felt sore and it stung slightly when he touched it, so he quickly retracted his hand and tried to not think about it. But no matter how he hard he tried to ignore the stinging sensation in his cheek, no matter how many times he told himself that Kari hadn't meant it, it still hurt.

He hadn't meant to upset her. All he wanted to do was prevent her from putting herself in harm's way and so far, that had earned him a hit atop his head and a slap across his face, both of whom still felt sore when he touched them. Despite that however, he found that he couldn't be angry with her for it either. If it had been his parents being abducted in front of them, he probably would've panicked as well and he knew from experience that sometimes, people said and did things they didn't mean when they were upset. Him and Jun had argued many times over the years and whenever they did, it was never pretty to watch or listen to.

As his thoughts drifted to his sister and the rest of his family, Davis felt a lump form in his throat. Had they made it out of Odaiba before the Ghost Digimon attacked? Considering Jun was already suffering from a mental shock due to having witnessed a Digimon fight, he didn't think that being abducted by an army of terrifying ghosts would help her recover any faster. He really hoped that they were okay.

Opposite to Davis, on the other side of the garage, Kari sat leaning against the opposite wall. She felt terrible with herself, but not because of the situation she had found herself in, as one might think. Since they were currently out of harm's way, the adrenaline from the Bakemon attack had left her system and it allowed her to think back to her behavior against her new friend, her arguably closest friend, since they had made up just a little over an hour ago.

Because that was really what he had become to her. Even though they had only really known each other for 2 days, she had never felt this attached to any of her other friends. She couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was that made him feel so special to her, but she knew that she didn't want to lose his friendship from the experience of that afternoon, when she had believed that he might not like her anymore. But he had come back to her and how had she repaid him? By slapping him across the face and telling him that she hated him...

 _I'm a terrible friend.'_ she thought with a quiet whimper as she felt her throat constrict. Even if Davis hadn't thought badly about her before, he most certainly did now. Before, she had just been silly when she had thought that she may have done something to upset him, but now she knew that he had a very valid reason to be mad at her. She knew that she most certainly would've been if he had been the one to slap _her_ across the face...

Her thoughts were interrupted when suddenly, the sound of a large explosion echoed across the area and the ground shook from the magnitude of whatever had caused it. Kari shrieked in fright at the unnexpected events, but that shriek soon turned into a scream of pain as she was thrown off balance and rolled around on the floor, unable to right herself with her twisted ankle. The searing pain in the injured limb returned full force and Kari felt the by now familiar sensation of moist tears on her cheeks as she grabbed ahold of her ankle and waited for the shaking to subside.

As soon as the shaking died down, Davis was instantly at her side with a worried look on his face. The quakes had left Kari lying on the floor, gasping for breath in between her sobs, with her ankle twisted into an unnatural position. Since she had been unable to right or support herself with her injured foot, it had gotten stuck against the floor and turned almost 180 degrees from her body weight pressing down on it.

Davis swallowed as he looked down on his friend. The lighting was pretty bad so he couldn't see her ankle very well, but he could see its silhouette and could easily make out that it was completely broken by this point, whereas before it had only been twisted. For a moment, he froze in place as he stared at the unnaturally bent limb, feeling his gut turn itself upside down and he felt himself tremble at the sight. What was he supposed to do? He wasn't a medic or a doctor and just looking at Kari's ankle right now made him feel sick! What if he only made it worse?

Another gasp of pain from Kari brought Davis out of his state of panic and he looked up to find Kari's face scrunched up in a pained expression and her entire body was trembling from trying to hold in her cries and the tears that were no doubt trying to break through her closed eyelids. Seeing the state that his friend was in, Davis took a deep breath and steeled himself. He couldn't just sit there and question himself, he had to do what he could to help ease her suffering. Being a soccer player, and a particularly reckless one at that, he had twisted his own ankles many times and he knew how painful it could be.

Trying to recall what his coach had done to him when he had twisted his ankle during a practice session last year, Davis carefully reached out and grabbed Kari by the shoulders to try and turn her over so she was laying on her back. When he tried to move her however, Kari flinched and immediately tried to swat him away.

"D-don't touch m-me!" she managed to squeak in between her gasps.

However, as she tried to twist her body to get free from Davis' grip, a wave of pain erupted from her injured ankle and she cried out in agony, as every muscle in her body tensed up in response to the pain to keep her from making it any worse. The excruciating pain finally caused the built up tears to break through her eyelids, as the poor girl struggled to lay back down in the position she had been lying in earlier. It hurt even worse to be stuck half-sitting like this, but she found that she couldn't even move properly anymore, as her muscles were too tense.

' _Why?! Why am I so weak?!'_ she mentally cried, unable to voice her own frustration at the situation she had found herself in due to the sobs that still rocked her body. It hurt, everthing hurt so badly and she couldn't even move herself to ease her own pain!

"Easy there, Kari. You need to relax, or you're gonna make everything worse!"

And just like that, Kari found herself relaxing somewhat. Her eyes were still shut tight but even through the agony, she could easily recognize Davis' voice as he grabbed her shoulders again, much more gently this time, and carefully laid her down on the ground. As she was laid down in a more comfortable position, the pain in her ankle subsided somewhat and her breathing evened out.

As she was finally able to relax her tense muscles again, Kari took a deep breath and slowly opened her eyes. A pair of dark brown eyes stared back at her through the darkness with concern clearly evident in them. However, when he saw that she apepared to have calmed down somewhat, Davis let out a sigh of relief and offered his friend what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

"There we go. Feel any better?" he asked as he reached out and dried Kari's moist cheeks off with the end of his sleeve.

Kari stared dumbfounded at her friend, only offering a slight nod in response. Her ankle was still throbbing painfully, but it wasn't even close to as bad as it had been just a few moments ago. Somehow, just knowing that Davis was there to help her had made the situation so much easier to bear and just looking at his reassuring smile made her feel safe and protected in a way that only Tai could usually make her feel. Was this what it felt like to have a real friend?

Seeing that Kari was feeling a little bit better now that she wasn't straining her broken ankle, Davis' thoughts turned forward to what they should do next. There was no way he could move her now without making her ankle worse and even if he could, where were they supposed to go? She needed medical attention and even if he managed to get her back to the Motomiya Residence where he knew they had some medication, he had no idea how to treat her wound.

He could of course try to make a quick run there and then come back with something to help steady her ankle, but he didn't feel comfortable leaving her on her own while there were still Bakemon swarming around. Their best chance of getting out of this was to wait for Tai and Agumon to find them, but there was no telling how long that would take and the longer they waited, the bigger the chance that something else found them...

"Was this where you heard the scream, Bakemon?"

Hearing the unfamiliar voice from somewhere outside the garage where they had found shelter, Davis felt like all the blood in his veins had instantly frozen and time seemed to slow down around him as his mind processed the implications of what the voice had said. They had been found! Someone, or _something,_ was just outside of their sanctuary, looking for someone they had heard screaming earlier.

Looking down at his friend, Davis could see it in her eyes that she too realized what had happened and what it meant. Kari hadn't exactly been quiet while he tried to move her and if someone had been anywhere in the near vicinity, it was quite possible that they could've heard her.

"Yeah, I think so." a voice which Davis recognize as a Bakemon responded to the unfamiliar voice. "It sounded like a human kid."

That was all Davis needed to hear. They were caught, there was no way they were getting out of this one now. His heart sank in his chest and he could practically hear his heart beat in his ears as he clenched his fists and grit his teeth in frustration. He had done everything he could, and it still wasn't enough! Even after Taichi had trusted him with the safety of his sister, even after having dragged her across 5 blocks, Davis had still failed to...

Davis caught himself half way through his thought process and for a moment, the gravity of the situation seemed to diminish as he realized something. He wasn't angry or scared of the Bakemon for having caught them, he wasn't even angry at Kari for having given them away with her scream. He was angry at himself for failing to protect his friend. As worried as he was for the well-being of his family, there had been one other person that Davis had worried about constantly since this whole thing started and that person was still here.

As his gaze drifted to the side where Kari was laying in the corner of the room, almost completely concealed in the shadows, a small glimmer of hope was lit in Davis chest. Kari was still here, and she was still out of danger. There was still a chance that he could save her! Even though it was unlikely, he would be damned if he at least didn't try to save the one person he could still save!

For a moment, the two friends locked gazes and seeing the fear and horror in his friend's eyes, Davis offered her the best smile he could muster and pressed a finger to his lips to signal that she should remain quiet. As quietly as he could, he rose to his feet and looked around in the dimly lit garage. The tremors from earlier had scattered all the tools and boxes of stuff that had been packed together in one of the corners. Looking around at the floor, he spotted a large tool that was laying on the ground just a little over a meter away from him, which he quietly sneaked over to and retrieved.

While Davis was steeling his nerves for the foolish and borderline crazy plan he had come up with, Kari watched him retrieve the large tool with confusion. Once he gripped the tool by the hilt and held it in front of himself like a sword however, it suddenly dawned on her what he was planning to do and she felt a cold fear grip at her heart for her friend's safety. She was just about to call out to him and beg him to reconsider when...

"Found you."

With a hoarse battlecry, Davis raised the large tool above his head and charged at the Bakemon that had stuck its head in through the crack in the already broken down door. As he brought it down on his foe, the Bakemon yelped in pain and immediately retreated out of the garage. Feeling his heartbeat pick up, Davis gripped his improvised weapon harder and followed after the Ghost Digimon out of the garage, hoping against hope that Kari would remain quiet and stay in her corner.

Outside, he was met by 2 Bakemon and another Digimon that he didn't recognize, which he assumed was the origin of the unfamiliar voice from earlier. This Digimon was hovering in the air, just like the Bakemon, but instead of a white sheet it was covered in a gray robe that ended in a red hood. Around its neck, it had a golden necklace that held what appeared to be a large bloodshot eyeball and it held a large, golden scythe in its hands, which ended in a long chain. The creature's only visiable facial trait was its cold blue eyes, which was glowing threateningly from somewhere inside the hood.

"Well well, what do we have here?" the hooded Digimon said with a calm, almost tired voice. "I'm impressed that you managed to evade the initial wave, but now there is nowhere left for you to run, 8th Digidestined!"

Despite the situation he was in, Davis couldn't help but frown. 8th Digidestined? That was strange. He knew that Taichi and his friends, as well as Myotismon, had been trying to locate this 8th Digidestined child, but why would this creature think that Davis was that child?

"Who are you? And what do you mean "8th Digidestined"?" he asked cautiously, keeping an eye at the Bakemon that was circling around him. He was surrounded on all sides now, with the hooded creature in front of him and one Bakemon on each side. Escape would by impossible at this point, but he forcefully pushed the rising panic to the back of his mind. This was to protect Kari! If he got captured in the process, then so be it! He'd rather get himself captured than watch his friend being dragged away from him.

"I am Phantomon." the hooded creature introduced himself with a mocking bow. "And don't try to play innocent with me, Digidestined. The Crest of Light is reacting to your presence!"

As he said it, Phantomon reached inside his robes and pulled out a small golden necklace. The center of the necklace was glowing with a pink light, similar to the one that had come out of the digivice that Davis had found earlier... the digivice!

When realization dawned upon him, Davis felt like someone had slapped him in the face. It had taken a while for his mind to put the pieces together, but the device that Davis had found yesterday while walking home from the Kamiyas looked exactly the same as the device that Taichi had used to Digivolve Agumon to Greymon! But... did that really mean that he was the 8th Digidestined? He had just found it when it had been dropped from...

A jolt of fear ran through him as he realized who the 8th Digidestined had to be. Kari had told him that Taichi and the other Digidestined had been going by the assumption that the 8th Digidestined had also lived at Highton View Terrace 4 years ago, and had also witnessed the battle between Greymon and Parrotmon. Davis for his part had never lived at Highton View Terrace as far as he knew, but he knew someone else who had and who remembered that battle with a frightening amount of details. Some who also lived in the apartment building where this digivice had first appeared...

" **Shadow Scythe!** " Phantomon's voice brought Davis out of his thoughts, as the Ghost Digimon lunged forward and brought his golden scythe down on him. Instinctively, Davis raised the metallic tool he had brought as a weapon in front of himself to try and block the attack, but the tool got cut in half by Phantomon's scythe, as if it had been made out of butter.

Davis shrieked in surprise and lost his balance when Phantomon sent his chain flying towards him and nailed him in the abdomen, causing the auburn haired boy to lose his breath and swept him off his feet. A barely audible "crack!" and a piercing pain in his chest let him know that one of his ribs had taken a really bad hit from that one, and he had to grit his teeth tightly together to keep himself from crying out in pain.

However, Phantomon didn't give Davis any time to stop and gather his bearings. Barely had he touched down on the ground again before the chain came flying towards him again, this time wrapping itself around his neck. Davis gasped as the chain squeezed down on him and blocked off his windpipe, as Phantomon hovered higher into the air and lifted him off the ground.

The auburn haired boy coughed and struggled as best he could against the chain that was currently strangling him, but there was little he could do to free himself. He felt his eyes tear up as the lack of oxygen began to catch up to him and he desperately tried to take a breath, but all he managed to produce was a high pitched wheezing. The thing golden chain was beginning to cut through his skin and what little strength he had in his chubby little 9 year old arms was starting to fade, as the world began to spin around him and darken...

"STOP!"

Suddenly, a pink light erupted from Davis' waist that blinded Phantomon and somehow caused his chain to break. Freed from the chain that was holding him, Davis landed on the ground and immediately untangled the noose that had almost strangled him to death. He couldn't feel anything nor could he think clearly as he hungrily drew in a breath of the fresh air around him and immediately fell to his knees and began coughing from the sudden intake. His head was spinning wildly and he still felt dizzy from the lack of oxygen, so it took a few seconds for his mind to register exactly what had happened, and who had called out to him...

Realization hit him at the same moment as he heard Kari cry out in pain and he felt all the blood drain from his face. He was quickly on his feet again and ignored the nauseous feeling it gave him to move around so much and spun around to find that the Bakemon had gotten ahold of his friend and was dragging her behind himself towards where Davis and Phantomon were standing/hovering. Kari's legs was being dragged behind her, and way her left leg was hanging loosely behind her and the pained expression on her face was enough to let Davis know that the rough treatment was causing her extreme amounts of discomfort.

"No! She's injured, don't touch her!" he cried out and immediately made to run for his friend but he was switfly intercepted by the second Bakemon. With no weapon to defend himself this time, it didn't take more than a few seconds before he was pinned down against the ground by the Ghost Digimon's cold blue hands. A second later, the other Bakemon reached them and pinned Kari down beside Davis, earing himself another cry of pain from the girl.

"Well, would you look at that?" Phantomon's tired voice droned on as he descended on the two children. "Did you think that we wouldn't find your little friend if you drew our attention, Digidestined? How very noble of you!"

The mocking tone in Phantomon's voice made Davis' blood boil and he returned to struggling against his captor with renewed vigor. However, there was little he could do against the Ghost Digimon, but that only served to make him even angrier. He could hear Kari's whimpering, he could _see_ the tears as they travelled down her cheeks and he was absolutely powerless to help her! He didn't know why, but he absolutely hated seeing her like this. It was driving him mad not being able to ease her pain when she needed him the most!

"DAMMIT! LET HER GO!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, as the first tear fell from his own eyes. A torrent of unfamiliar feelings was rushing through him as he felt the helplessness of the situation overwhelm him. Every instinct in his entire body screamed at him that Kari needed his help, that his friend was in pain and that he had to do something to help ease her suffering and yet he couldn't! It was infuriating!

While Davis was struggling against his captor and screaming profanities at the top of his lungs, Phantomon was studying the device that was clipped to the young boy's belt with interest. It was doubtlessly a Digivice, which confirmed his suspicion that this boy was indeed the 8th Digidestined that they had been looking for. For a moment, he had wondered which of these children was really the 8th chosen, but since the boy had the Digivice it had to be him. After all, he had even managed to make it somehow break the chain on his Shadow Scythe, and as far as he knew only the one chosen by the Digivice could use it.

"You can drop the girl off with the other children in the Convention Center. The boy is coming with me to Lord Myotismon." Phantomon's tired voice somehow cut through Davis' furious screams.

"Yes sir!" both Bakemon responded as they lifted their respective captives off the ground. The one holding Kari immediately went off in a different direction from the one that was carrying Davis, who instead followed after Phantomon when the hooded Digimon flew higher into the air and began to float away.

"NO!" Davis felt panic tear at his chest as he struggled helplessly against the Bakemon that was holding him in an iron grip and carrying him away from his friend. Everything around them seemed to slow down as he was forced to watch Kari getting dragged further away from him. But there was nothing he could do. The Bakemon was stronger than him and it didn't look like the Digivice was going to activate itself and help him out of this grip, the way it had helped him against Phantomon's chain. He was powerless.

Even Kari, who had previously been immobilized from the pain in her broken ankle, had begun struggling harder against the cold blue hands that were dragging her away, her survival instincts overpowering the piercing agony from her injury. She screamed and tried to twist herself loose from the Bakemon's grip but didn't have much more success than her friend.

As she looked up towards where her new friend, her best friend, was taken away from her, she felt something inside her break. He had done everything to protect her, everything to ease her pain and all she had done to him was hit him and tell her that she hated him. He had put his life on the line and faced down 3 terrifying Digimon on his own, just to give her a chance to get away and she hadn't even had to guts to apologize to him for her horrible behavior towards him.

He hadn't deserved it, any of it. Kari felt like her chest was going to tear itself apart from the guilt she felt. If she hadn't slapped him across the face so they had lost their grip on Greymon, maybe they wouldn't be in this mess. Then, perhaps her ankle wouldn't have been injured and they could've found somewhere better to hide, or they could've made it to Davis' apartment where they would've been better protected if the Bakemon ever came looking. It was all her fault! She had behaved horribly towards her best friend and now he was going to pay the price for her actions.

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 **Author's Note:** _Holy maccaroni! That last scene became a lot **longer** than I thought it would! And I actually had a few **tears** in my eyes as I was writing that last part, when Davis and Kari got **separated** from each other. My **girlfriend** was **sitting beside me** while I wrote it and she was like "Why are you writing this stuff if it makes you cry?". _

_Anyway, **for once** I felt content with every part of the chapter when I finished it, so I really hope that you guys enjoyed it. It's a little **longer** than the previous chapters, but it's nothing if not **fitting** for this particular chapter to be a little longer. I really hope that you guys enjoyed it! Also, I want to remind everyone that I always **respond** to reviews in **PMs** so if you haven't, go check your PM Inbox! :p_

 _While we're talking about **trivial** things, I want to take the time out to give a shout-out to **Loki921** who have posted his **first story** on this website since he finally found **inspiration** enough to finish the first two chapters! If you haven't already, go and check out his story "Digimon: Flame in Miracles". There is definetely room for some **improvement** , but the story has **potential**!_

 _Now that everything's been said and done, I just want to say one more **thank you** to all you guys, especially those who take the time out of their day to **review** whenever a **new chapter** drops! Even if it's just **a few kind words** , it means so much to me as a writer that people want to show that they still **read** the story! I won't set a **review goal** for this chapter, but if you liked the chapter be sure to give a **review** of what you liked and what you didn't like! And if you can name **what episode** the **quote** at the beginning if from, I'll give you a **shout out** in the next chapter! :)_

* * *

 _Toy my **Honorable Guest** : Yeah, I try to keep a positive attitude when I am challenged, at least when its something that I enjoy doing and where I want to improve. No, Kari haven't really been taking the invasion well, but I think it's more a matter of Davis keeping an unusually cool head. After all, I'd be pretty freaked out too if some digital ghosts showed up all of a sudden and abducted my parents right in front of my eyes. _

_Yeah, as it stands right now, Myotismon have the situation under almost total control. The only good thing we can say is that it has yet to be revealed where the remaining Digidestined are at the moment, since only Taichi, Yamato and Takeru have been shown so far. And of course, Wizardmon is a wild card in this._

 _It annoys me to no end that Kari's unique connection to Light and Darkness was never explained further. The mystery that surrounded her character was one of the many things that made her my favourite character, but it is also one of the things that I really wish that Adventure 02 had done a better job at clearing up before it ended. I'm going to have to dig deep into Digimon Adventure nerdery to see if there are any hints to go by so I can come up with a good way to tie up that loose end when I write the sequel for this story._

 _As I mentioned in an earlier AN, it's hard to write a good thought process for situations like this, where instinctive action is more often than not the decisive factor. Anyone who have been in a life and death situation, myself included, know that when you reach a certain point of danger, you stop thinking and act instinctively. The thought process of what happens around you comes afterwards. A good example would be a simple car crash where the driver escape unharmed. That driver is going to be "fine" for between 20-40 minutes before the events catch up with him and what happens after that can be anything from nothing to a mental breakdown. It's a survival instinct that all humans have, and no thought process is involved._

 _Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed the chapter as much as I did writing it! There was a lot that happened in it so I'm sure your review will be interesting to read! It's always nice talking to you and reading what you have to say! :) Have a good day!_


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